Enemies young and old
by marisol777
Summary: Sequel to New Beginning old friends. With Carly still trapped in the decepticons grasp the Autobots work hard to get her back. But with new surprises around the corner and WheelJack going missing and a new ship approaching do they have everything under control or will it all come crashing down?
1. Rescue mission

_***** Disclaimer- I own nothing except Ava*****_

Ava was sitting back at base with Miko, and the bots. Her mom was still captured by the decepticons and they were wondering, why they were after Ava and her mother, Mikko refused to leave her side. "Ava," Optimus said looking sadly at the girl, when Ava looked at the prime he continued.

"We will do everything in our power to make sure Carly is brought back safely. I will not let you lose another parent." Nodding her head Ava wiped the tears that fell from her eyes, and giving Optimus Prime a small smile.

"Thank you Optimus. I'll help in anyway that I can." the Witwicky child replied. When Raf gave her some tissues she nodded and said "Thank you Raf." everyone could tell this experience took a toll on the child. Her usual optimistic personality and smile that could light up a room vanished after Carly Witwicky was kidnapped by the decepticons.

"Ava do you have someone that could stay with you while we look for your mother?" Ratchet ask calmly surprising

the children except for Rafael.

Wiping tears from her face she replied "Y-Yes, I-I do. I'll c-c-call M-M-Makaela, when we meet she was very kind, she even knew my dad. I guess I could see if she could come and stay." Ratchet nodded slowly at Ava's reply.

WheelJack and Ava were sitting in the parking lot of the airport a city away from Jasper. "So, why are we waiting in the parking lot instead of you in the airport lobby?" questioned the wrecker as he moved the side view mirrors to see Ava

"I didn't want to be alone." Ava looked away from the wrecker "that and I told Mekaela that I'll be in the parking lot with a white car that has red and green lines on it. She should be here soon." Ava replied looking back to the door for Mekaela.

"Considering what happened I'd be more surprised if you weren't a little shaken up." WheelJack explained "Say Ava since Mekaela was a friend of Sam's do you think she knew the others, knows about the autobots and the cons?"

"I don't know Jackie. If she did she was probably told not to tell me, since I was not supposed to know about you guys." Ava pointed out. Looking up she noticed Makaela walking up to them, standing up straight from leaning against WheelJack she hugged Mekaela.

So how have you been?" she asked with a smile to the girl.

Looking at the wrecker then back to Makaela she said "I've been better." Ava replied "but I'm alright." that last statement was more directed to WheelJack then to Makeala. Ava got into the driver seat feeling weird, normally she would sit in the passenger seat and WheelJack would drive. Now Makela was in the passenger seat and Ava had to pretend that she was driving her guardian and friend.

 **In the desert on the way to Jasper**

Ava was nervous, Makaela knew her father and WheelJack brought up a good point, since she knew Sam back then maybe, just maybe she knew the autobots. There was a chance that she didn't know the bots and just knew Sam; and road in BumbleBee, without even knowing that the car she was riding in was a sentient being.

"So Ava, pretty neat car you have." the girl in the passenger side of the car said

Nervously Ava nodded "All those jobs I got in different cities." She replied giving her Autobot guardian a nervous look. The driver seat heated up a bit then cooled down as if to reassure her, since he couldn't talk cause they didn't know if Makaela knew about the bots. After that the car ride was silent With Makaela not knowing that Ava knew her car was actually an autobot and Ava not knowing Makaela knows the same exact thing. Once Ava dropped off Makaela at the house she told her that she would be hanging out with friends till later. When Makaela gave the okay 'Ava' drove out of the drive way.

Once they were in the outskirts of the town Ava crawled into the passenger seat. "So...I ah..." WheelJack started "I heard you singing when I first picked you up, and the other times I've been a late. You sounded ...nice." WheelJack complemented his charge.

"Oh thanks, Jackie." Ava said with her first smile since her mother was kidnapped by the Decepticons. The smile soon faded from her face after a while.

"Maybe I can take you for a ride in the JackHammer, later on. Sound like fun?" WheelJack offered When she didn't answer he added "We'll find her don't worry"

"I know what you're trying to do Jakie." Ava said "Look its not that I'm ungrateful. I truly am grateful for what you guys are doing. Its just...just that huh... I guess its just on how the last thing that happened before Megatron kidnapped her; was us fighting, and me telling her that I hated her." Ava replied

"Look Ava, you were upset. I know you didn't mean it, and you know what. I know that she knows that you didn't mean it either." Jakie explained to his charge. "you know what maybe you can be a wrecker like Mikko. We can be the four wreckers." at this Ava started to laugh, smiling brightly she looked at wheelJack and shook her head.

"Four wreckers,Huh?" she lightly chuckled "sounds like a plan. That is if when we get my mom back, and we can stay." Ava's smile seemed to vanish at the thought of her missing mother. When they entered the base, Ava exited WheelJack's alt. mode so he could transform.

Optimus looked at the child and sighed "WheelJack?" the prime asked and before he could voice his question.

"Ava's been fine Prime. Got her to smile a while ago, but it quickly faded when she thought about her mom."

the wrecker pointed out. "We need to find her fast, I have a feeling that Megatron will use her against us."

 **With the Decepticons**

"I grabbed the wrong girl!" Megatron yelled."I should have figured Ava would be about as slippery as her father was. At least I have someone to use against him." As the leader of the Decepticons walked to the holding cell, that held their prisoner he thought about how he would use Carly against the Autobots. Smiling at how he was finally going to defeat Optimus. He said looking at Carly who was a wreck "I will use you human to finally put an end to the Autobots and the fall of their leader Optimus Prime."

Carly silently cried at what she had done, if only she had trusted the bots when she was at the base she would not be here right now.

 _ **With the Autobots**_

Ava had fallen asleep on the couch with her laptop in her lap, and the Autobots didn't want to wake her up. Knowing that she has had a restless night last night.

"Optimus we need to have an excuse as to why Ava, is not home." Jack said looking at the slumbering girl on the couch of the Autobot base.

Looking over to Ava Optimus nodded "I agree Jack." Optimus replied, looking at the human girl that was sleeping peacefully on the couch.

He turned to go out on patrol only to be stopped when Miko said "Cool, thanks" When Arcee attempted to ask what was going on Miko ignored her picked up Avas phone and called her home. When Mekaela picked up Miko started to talk. "Hey Mekaela this is Miko, I'm a friend of Ava's and I was wondering if Ava could stay over at my house tonight. Really cool I'll tell her, you said it was cool." After that she hung up and looked at the bots, and said "I'm staying, here with Ava tonight." this confused the bots till Miko stated "I'm not leaving Ava without a shoulder to cry on. I'm not leaving her here alone." Optimus nodded his head.

"While I admire your loyalty Miko won't your host parents worry if your not back at their house." Ratchet said,

Miko rolled her eyes sitting on the ground she said "It's an old trick. I called my host parents and told them I'm staying over at a friend's house. Then I called Ava's house and told Makaela that she was staying at my house. While we both stay here. As long as we are not caught by either Makaela or my host parents we are fine."

"Optimus I am surprised Megatron has not attempted to contact us to either trade Carly or for something else." Ratched said low enough that Miko did not hear it.

"While you do bring up a good point old friend we have nothing he wants besides Ava. If he asks for a trade I do not doubt it will be one of us Autobots he asks for." the prime replied

"Let's just hope the Autobot he asks for is not Bee. Excluding you BumblebBee is the only autobot to have stolen multiple relics form him and is our youngest member of our team."

"I know Ratchet, but we cannot forget Megatron has stolen things from BumbleBee as well; like his voice and his first charge." Optimus replied gravely

"Think we should tell them that Makaela knows about us or not." Arcee asked

"We best not get her involved again." Bulkhead said "and where is Bee any way?"

"He is taking Raf home." Arcee said "Said he might be a little late getting back because of some of the detours he had to make to get to Rafael's house."

"Let's just hope that the Decepticons ask for a relic that I can quickly make a duplicate of. We will bring both the real one and the fake. We will show that we have the relic and switch it out when we got to trade off for Megatron." Ratchet added

"What if they want one of us Ratchet?" WheelJack asked

"We will deal with that when the time comes, it depends on who he askes for. Since each one of us veries in height, and skill. That way we can make a plan quickly and we won't have to remember six different or twelve if we count the humans that he could decide to take." The medic answered saddily

"He must be sending Decepticons to steal food, but then why haven't we been alerted?" Smokescreen questioned

"They must be sending in sound wave, for stealth and robbing them when there is no human around to alert the authorities. If anything Soundwave might ask about allergies since he only causes direct harm to Autobots and not humans the exception would be slight harm i believe." Arcee said remembering when the kids we face to face with the con and he never caused harm to the kids only some minor scrapes and bruises.

"So he is feeding her?" questioned the young Bot

"So we believe since he would most likely want to trade he for what we something we have and he holds a small bit of respect for her. Not many humans had the guts to stand up to him besides Sam. Unlike Sam thought she stood in his face and stood up to him, Sam just defied him on numerous occasions." Replied Ratchet

"So Ava's parents defied Megatron. So cool. Wonder what happened?" Miko stated

"Miko, you should be over there with Ava." Bulkhead told his charge

"I know but I could not help but overhear on how Ava's parents stood up the the Con leader." She explained

"Yes they were very brave and helped us greatly." Optimus replied "Now Miko if you please go to where Ava is, we have to discuse what we are going to do to get Carly back"

"Alright." She sighed and trudged back to the couch

"Are we seriously going to sit here and wait for him to call, and demand we hand over either one of our teammates or one of the relics we are keeping from his hands." Ratchet questioned "I say I look for the warship and then we storm the Decepticon base and retrieve Carly."

"We will look for the war ship but if megatron calls while we are out on patrol contact us right away." Optimus said as he and some of the other bots headed out on patrol to look for the decepticons.


	2. Moving again?

Ratchet bridged the boys to the base since their Autobot guardians could not pick then up. Moments later the com beeped and woke up Ava and Miko Ratchet called in the others and told optimus that he needed to come back to base."Optimus you should

see this." Ratchet called over, when the prime came over to the medic he continued. "Megatron is attempting to contact we answer?"

Optimus nodded his head slowly. "It could be an attempt to negotiate Carly's life." Optimus said "Answer the call." When Megatron's face appeared in front of them Optimus pulled his scout behind him, and said "what is it that you want Megatron?"

"I see you're protecting your scout Prime." Megatron said "Now let me see I have something or should I say Someone that you want. Now you will meet me in this location at dawn. Come with your precious scout, leave the Autobot surprises at home Prime. After you get the human I will make my demands" Megatron said and then hung up the com

"He wants you Optimus," Ava said scaring everyone in the base. "He wants to see you suffer Optimus, asking for BumbleBee, no surprises. What I think is that we go aboard the Decepticons ship and take her back. Think about it he said no Autobot surprises he said nothing about a surprise from a human." She looked around at the bots, The bots seemed surprised at the hope Ava held not long ago she was crying in Mikko's arms, now she was acting like her father. Determination that's the look she held, by now the only humans at the base were Miko and Ava. Bee had taken Rafael and Arcee had taken Jack home.

"Sounds plausible but who will provide the human surprise? Ratchet replied and a few seconds later he added "ABSOLUTELY NOT! you will not risk your life just to get your mother back that will make her hate us even more then she already does. We are not risking any of your lives." Ava waited till the medic's rant was over. She didn't even seemed phased,

"Yeah, ok. Now don't you guys have the Apex Armor? Won't that work on humans? I sneak aboard on one part of the ship you guys another. Cause some damage and then leave that will be a good enough diversion to distract from the explosions you will use to get my mom out."

Ratchet thought about it for a second and saw that she was as determined as her father. Ratchet finally said. "You are not going," when Ava started to protest Ratchet held up his hand and started over "your not going alone." Ava

smiled at the medic bot. "Now we do not know if the armor will work for humans so instead of using the armor a small team will cause destruction on one side of the ship causing all the cons to run there thinking we are breaking in on that side while the rescue team gets Carly." Ratchet proposed to Optimus. "The humans have all volunteered along with WheelJack and Bulkhead to cause the distraction." Optimus looked at the humans and the two wreckers.

Worried that they'd say no Ava added to what Ratchet said "Optimus the cons are probably guarding my mom with the anticipation that you will come for her. Causing a distraction in the opposite side of the ship is the safest way on and off the Nemesis. By the time the decepticons get back to the holding cell it will be too late my mom would already be here. Please Optimus please let me help rescue my mother." Ava looked right at him with hope and determination, she knew that the Autobot leader was only protecting her but she really wanted to help.

With some thought the prime nodded "You may come. The only commands I give you four are to listen to Bulkhead and WheelJack, Stay close to them till they tell you to run, and be careful." With all that the kids all nodded their heads.

 **With the distraction team**

When the ground bridge opened WheelJack and Bulkhead were the first ones out,after looking around they called the kids out. Jack held a bat, Miko had an ax, Ava held a sludge hammer, and Rafael had made a virus that he was going to put into the system of Nemesis. The kids all waited patiently while the virus uploaded, when it was complete WheelJack pulled the plug gave it to Raf and said "Time to go to work wreckers," looking at Miko and Ava he smiled and added "and junior wreckers." causing both human girls to smile. All three humans got to work destroying the room they were in, once they were done Bulkhead called Ratchet "Hey Ratchet we need a bridge." When the bridge opened Bulk yelled "All humans go first." When the humans entered the bridge WheelJack pulled a grenade and launched it, and Bulkhead shot one last time. After that they entered the portal, once they entered the bridge WheelJack's bomb exploded.

 **With the rescue team**

Optimus, Arcee, Smokescreen and Bumblebee were waiting for the decepticons to take the bait. If Ava was correct they will think that the Autobots are breaking in on the other side of the ship. Once the explosion was heard, the cons guarding Carly left. They were about to leave to get Carly when they heard talking.

 **With Carly**

 **Flash back**

"Why Sam? Why him? Why did he have to die?" Carly cried as she was thinking on where to take her five year old daughter that way she can be safe. It was at that moment Carly saw BumbleBee pull up "BEE!" little Ava cried with delight, as she ran and hugged the yellow Autobot in his . Carly snapped all her sadness turned into rage for some odd reason "LEAVE US ALONE! GET AWAY FROM MY DAUGHTER, SAM'S DAUGHTER!" Carly cried with rage building inside "IF YOU HAD LEFT WITH HIM LIKE IRONHIDE DID WITH AVA! YES HE CAME BACK BUT ONCE HE DROPPED OFF AVA WITH BULKHEAD! WHY DIDN'T YOU RUN WITH HIM? IT IS AS YOUR FAULT, MAYBE NOT AS MUCH AS MEGATRON'S BUT STILL!" Carly picked up a nearby rock and started to hit BumbleBee with it, at the first strike Ava jumped. At the third hit Ava started to cry. She couldn't understand why her mother was hitting Bee, her father's camaro. "WE ARE NOT PART OF THIS MESS OF YOUR'S ANY MORE YOU HEAR ME. STAY AWAY FROM US. NEVER GET NEAR US EVER AGAIN! I DON'T WANT MY DAUGHTER, SAM'S DAUGHTER. MY BABY TO BE A PART OF THIS...THIS...THIS." Carly couldn't continue with one final hit with the rock on Bee's hood and she picked up her now crying daughter and waked away. With Ava screaming and reaching for Bumblebee on her arms.

 **Flashback ends**

"I should have never did that. Ava was safe, safer than she had been in a long time. I wish I could see the bots again, I'm so sorry Bee. Optimus, Ratchet I'm so sorry for snapping at you. I should have known that you'd try to keep the secret from her. I'm so very sorry." Tears of regret poured from her eye's as another of her apologies fell to the wind. It was at that second that she heard an explosion in the distance 'They are coming for me' Carly thought as she dried her tears.

 **A few minutes later**

Optimus's voice spoke and said "Carly move away from the door." She did as the prime advised her to do, she backed up and moved over to the side of the holding cell.

"Optimus" Carly called "I'm out of the way" It was at then that the door was blasted open and BumbleBee drove in and opened his door for Carly.

Quickly Carly got into Bee's "Ratchet open the ground bridge we have Carly. After that was said the bridge opened and the bots left after setting the door back to make it look like Carly was still there.

Once the bots exited the bridge BumbleBee opened the door and Carly got out and was immediately tackled into a hug by her daughter. "Mom I am so sorry. I didn't mean any of it. I was just upset." Ava apologised still in the hug she was giving her mother.

As she hugged her daughter back she looked at the bots "You're not the only one who as an apology to make. Ava I understand why you were upset. we'll talk about that later. Right now there are important matters to attend to." Ratchet went to speak and Carly held up her hand as she ended the embrace with her daughter. "Before you start to talk Ratchet I need to say this." she looked at BumbleBee, "Bee I am sorry for what happened 11 years ago and last night." She turned to Optimus not letting Bee say anything yet. There was still stuff she needed to get off her chest. "Optimus, I'm sorry. I should have trusted you to care for Ava instead of running off and yelling at you guys." With that said Carly nodded her head. Satisfied with what she said

"So what happens now?" Raf asked

"Yeah are ya going to leave?" Miko asked

"I haven't decided yet, yes I know that the bots can protect her but, I still do not know what I am going to do. Tell you what I'll think about it and Ava can come back tomorrow and tell you if we are moving or not. She is going to be visiting whether I like it or not." Carly said

"Your car is back home Carly we can ground bridge you there." Optimus said

"Ground bridge?" She asked

"Think teleportation." Av said quickly not wanting to hear the tecnical name again.

"Yes, yes it is similar to that. A ground bridge is a smaller version a space bridge technology." He replied

"I thought we agreed to call it teleportation whenever we explained it to people." Ava told Ratchet

"Well, it is easier to explain it like that."

"Whatever you say Ratchet," Ava said waving off the argument "Can you please ground bridge us home."

"How about I take them Optimus. Could be one of the last times I take her home and I want to show her that I can watch over Ava." A voice said

"WheelJack I am sure my mom trusts you she just needs some time to think." Ava said laughing at how the wrecker acted

"A slow drive through the desert should help with that." he said transforming

"All right, I guess we are riding with WheelJack." Ava said getting in the front seat, Carly fallowed as she got into the passenger seat.

The ride home was silent witch made Ava nervous, she wanted to know if she was staying in Jasper or not. Was she allowed to stay a member of Team Prime again or have to give it all up. WheelJack could feel the tension rise during the car ride to Ava's house.

When they arrived at the house Carly walked to the door as Ava stayed behind to talk to WheelJack. "So whats going to happen now?" the wrecker asked

"There is a good chance that we will be moving again." Ava stated saddily

"Look kid, even if you move I will be there if you need me." WheelJack replied

"Thank you WheelJack." she said softly with a small smile

"Plus I still owe you a ride in the Jackhammer." he added

Ava laughed and said "I'll hold you to that promise."

"I bet you will." WheelJack smirked

Ava smiled back at him as she entered the house

'Just like her father. He was good friends with BumbleBee like she is with WheelJack. Sam would be proud of what his daughter is doing, just like he did. I should have known they would met up with her again.' Carly thought

When Ava got into the house she sighed and said "So when are we packing up and leaving next week, next month, tomorrow?" she asked knowing they still haven't unpacked everything only a a few boxes the rest was still on the other side of their two car garage.

Carly looked at her daughter and saw how upset she looked and knew that the Bots did protect her well, she didn't even see a single scratch that would indicate she was running from Decepticons. Thinking back to how Ava was with the bots when she was little and why she left. She knew the bots would always keep an eye on her now since they had a ground bridge they could teleport where ever they moved. Then her thoughts went to IronHide Ava's first autobot guardian and wondered where he could be. Then frowned sternly at Ava and shook her head, she looked stern and disapproving at her and when she spoke the youngest Witwicky was filled with dread.


	3. here we go again

WheelJack drove to Ava's house for what he feared was the last time he would ever pick her up. Ava was his charge and he felt like he was failing her by not being able to protect her from the decepticons that would hunt her down. When he pulled into the driveway he saw her face. Ava was sad and looking down, and walked over to WheelJack.

"Oh kid, I'm sorry it didn't"

"I don't want to talk about it now Jackie, can we wait till we get to base I want everyone to know at the same time." she interrupted

"Ok, if that's what you want, so what do you want to talk about?" The wrecker asked

"How was it like traveling through space?" She asked with a small smile

"Seeing different planets meeting up with fellow wreckers. It was nice, though I often traveled alone."

"Must have been lonely." She said softly

"Pretty much and when I ran into Bulk on my first trip to Earth, when it was over I offered him to come with but he refused and now I see why." WheelJack replied "Being a guardian is interesting."

"Ah," The girl replied and the rest of the trip was silent

 _ **At Base**_

When they got to the base Ava still held a frown on her face and slowly walked over to the others, as she thought of a way to tell them what her mother had told her.

"Oh no." Miko mumbled as she saw her face

"She said no didn't she?" Jack asked hoping to ease Ava's burden of telling everyone the bad news.

"Did she, say anything to you WheelJack?" Bulk asked

"No she wanted to tell us all at once." He replied

"Then I guess we will have to wait, since Optimus stepped out before you got here." Ratchet said looking up from his work

"Where did Optimus go?" Ava asked

"Headed some where with Agent Fowler." Arcee said

"So we have to wait till Optimus gets back?" Raf asked

Ava nodded sadly "I don't want to tell anyone and then have to repeat the news."

"So let's play a video game till he come back" Jack offered as he picked up a controller

"Come on." Miko pushed

"Why not." Ava shrugged as she watched Jack and Miko play. Since they only had two controllers they usually played it as two played then the other two played then they would flip a coin to see if the winners or the losers of each round would play next. As they played Ava thought how she was going to tell them the news she had to give them.

 _ **With Optimus**_

Optimus was driving down the dirt road as he thought of what was going to happen if Ava moved again. He did not have as big as a team he used to have when Ava was growing up, so he could not split the team up. He did not want to have the decepticons after Ava and her mother but there was not alot he could do if they moved. It would e alot easier on him if they stay in Jasper, but since when was life easy on the Autobots. He knew that Megatron would hunt them down and WheelJack will be more and likely to follow them to keep her safe. Carly hopefully would allow him to come with them if she leaves. Maybe even allow her to visit them, hopefully that would put a smile on the young girl's face.

When the Prime noticed a cave he decided to enter it knowing that it would not take long and if there was energon in the cave it would be beneficial to the Autobots if they could get a good supply of it before Megatron gets a whiff of the he got deeper into the cave he determined it was covert enough to walk instead of drive. As he walked through he looked all over to see if he could spot a single crystal of the life blood of all of cybertronians. He had to take care of his team, the three original human children and the two human adults that come by once in a while. Now he had to add one more human and adult to the list. Not to mention that when the school year ended Miko would be going back to live in Japan.

He was deep in the cave and noticed a faint light glow of blue in one of the caverns, and headed into that direction. he found that the cavern had a good amount of energon in it but not as much as he had hoped it held. That was from sight and he hoped that there was more that he could not see. HE looked for a piece he could chip away at and bring to base and then tell the others that he found a cave that the Decepticons are not mining that held energon in it. When he found a good price to chip he got to work making sure that he did not spark a a fire knowing that energon is extremely flammable, and he did not want to make his team worry about him. He decided that instead of once piece he would brake away a few more just in case the Cons found this before morning and he did not want to have one small piece to give to his team he thought of a family.

 _ **Back at Base**_

The kids played twelve rounds of the racing game and twelve rounds of another game and Optimus still didn't come back to the base. It was at that point the others started to worry. Ratchet told the kids not to worry that "He is probably just out for a drive, he does that often."

"Why does he do that alot?" Ava asked sounding intrigued in how the Prime acted.

"Optimus does not like a few things," Arcee said "Like most Primes he does not like to party, so he might think if he shows up too soon Miko would throw a party and he would not be able to escape because he just got back from patrol."

"Optimus also does not like the fact that we are almost always low on energon and he spends a lot of time looking for mines that are not in the Cons' possession," Ratchet added

"It is not that he wants to distant himself from us." Bulk replied

*"He is just too serious."* Bee added

Raf was about to translate but Ava stopped him "Hang on Raf I want to see if I can decode what BumbleBee is saying, if I fail or succeed please let me know." When they nodded Ava thought hard and Bee even repeated himself a few times as she concentrated.

 _ **With Optimus**_

With the newly acquired energon the leader of the Autobots exited the cave hoping to bring home some relief to the others. As he was heading home he was contacted by Agent Fowler who had information to give him.

"Agent Fowler, do we need to be of any assistance." He offered

"No Prime, I called to warn you about Mech. They are active as of late and getting more active by the day, I wanted to make sure you and your bots are prepared for them." Fowler replied

"Thank you for the warning, I will tell the other Autobots when I return."

"Wait, you are not at the base." Agent Fowler asked in surprise "I suggest you hurry and get back there before Mech releases that you are out alone Prime."

"I am heading to the base right now I just retrieved some energon." Optimus replied as he transformed

"Why were you scouting for energon? I understand that the others had to pick up the kids." William asked

"Ratchet needed to work the ground bridge incase of an emergency and Smokescreen does not know the Earth that well. The rest needed to pick up their charge." Optimus replied calmly

"Still, you could have taken him with you."

"No I could not have, he was waiting for Ava to get to the base. Carly found out about her visiting us and they got into a fight. After she was rescued from the Decepticons she decided to think if it would be alright if her daughter visits us or not.

"So what was her answer?" Fowler asked

"I do not know, I am currently on my way to Base. I do not doubt that she will wait for me to get back before she gives the answer. I only hope that I have not made them wait too long and the kids have left." Optimus stated

"I'm sure they are still there Prime. At least Ava and Jack for the most part. Since Carly and June both know about the Autobots." William Fowler said

 _ **Back at Base**_

A few hours later the kids were bord as they watchet TV. There was nothing on so they were watching the news, and every half hour they would flip through the channels to see if there was anything on that looked interesting during this boring wait. Two hours after they started to watch TV Bee beeped at a cartoon that looked interesting to him. "Gues we are watching this then." Raf said putting down the remote as they watched the show.

"Hey Ratch, when do you think Optimus would be back?" Ava asked as she looked up at the medic

"Hm. it is hard to say with him, Optimus has a lot on his mind right now as well as thinking of a solution if you cannot stay, we are a small group and it would be devastating to split our team up any smaller would be tragic to both teams."

"M'K." Ava replied not knowing what else to say.

"Think Ava should tell us and you could pass along the message?" Raf asked

"No if Ava is leaving he wouldn't feel right if he never got to talk to her first. Since it would be weird if a semi pulled into her driveway or stopped in front of her house just to talk and no driver came out or she came out to talk." Bulkhead explained

"So more waiting. If Optimus doesn't show it would be bad that she had to wait one more day to tell the news." Jack said

"Dude the suspense is killing me." Miko interjected

"Well we have to wait for Optimus, he should not be gone any longer. He knows he might not get another chance to talk to her again." Arcee said

*"He should be here, Ava and the kids will be going home soon. Not enough time to celebrate if she is staying or time to think of a plan if she is leaving."* Bee joined looking up from the show that was on.

Thirty minutes later Optimus rolled in and saw that the kids were still there, sighing he braced himself for what was to come. Carly's decision for either Ava to have contact with them or not. "What did Carly say?" When none of the Bots answered he asked "Did you not tell them in my absence?"

*"We were waiting for you Optimus. Where were you?"* BumbleBee buzzed

"I was in an energon mine scouting to see if any Decepticons were mining it. I apologize if you have been waiting to long on my account." the prime replied "Agent Fowler also warned me that Mech seems to be more active lately and warns us to be careful."

"Mech?" she asked cluelessly

"A team of humans that want to hurt the Autobots and Decepticons. They mostly hunt down any cybertronian and usually the ones to get the fall are the Autobots." Miko replied casually

"So what did Carly say Ava?" Ratchet reminded the girl, of the reason why they were waiting for Optimus to get back

"And... the verdict is." She said "I can still have contact with you all. My mom decided that it would be a lot safer for me if you were in my life." Her smile widened as she looked around "The good news we are staying in Jasper!" she announced.


	4. Start of a new chapter

"Dude you can stay!" Miko said with excitement

Nodding her head Ava smiled knowing that they were finally home.

"So what did your mom say about us?" Jack asked

"She didn't say much except for Raf but then again I was a baby and hanging around with the bots. So as long as they have a base that the cons don't know about, she is fine with it." Ava replied shrugging her shoulders

"Mrs. Witwicky is alright with us being with the bots?" Raf asked in surprise

"Yeah she is and she think it is a good idea to give the youngest among us the most experienced guardian." Ava replied

*"He gets into trouble almost as much as your father did when the cons were active."*Bee said

"No I don't Bee. I barely get into any trouble with the Cons I am mostly at the base." Rafael replied

"You are the one that has been hit a lot by the Cons Raf." Bulkhead added softly

"So, it was one time." Raf replied getting upset

"Let's not tease him any more guys, I think all of us humans has had tons of close calls by a Decepticon." Ava replied putting her hands up in peace

"Thanks Ava." Raf replied

"No prob." she replied smiling

Ava and the others looked at Optimus who had been silent ever since Ava told them that she was staying in Jasper. The others noticed that Ava stopped talking and was looking at Optimus Prime with curiosity. They then followed her gaze and stared at the Prime wanting to know why the Witwicky child was staring at the leader of the Autobots. The others didn't worry as much as Ava was and looked away and continued on with getting ready to leave to take the children home knowing that Miko would throw party for Ava and the others hoping that Bulkhead could talk her out of it.

"Optimus?" Ava asked looking at him with worry and tears filling her eyes.

Looking down at the girl Optimus replied "What is it Ava?"

"You've been silent ever since I told everyone my mom's answer. Are you alright with her decision?"

For once Optimus did not know what to say. Primes were supposed to hold emotions in, and for the most part he did a good job of it, if Bee was not in trouble that is. He did not want to sound cruel or too emotional. So he would usually take time to consider what to say.

"We are glad that you can stay Ava." he finally replied "As for your question I am fine, I just have some things I need to process right now."

"OK." She replied accepting the primes reason for being quiet at her answer.

An hour later the kids got ready to leave to go home, when Ava reach WheelJack she smiled knowing that she will be returning to the base tomorrow. When the kids left the base Ratchet turned to Smokescreen who was leaving the main room to go to another part of the base. When he was sure he was out of ear range he turned to his leader.

"I will be easier on us now that she is staying in Jasper. Megatron will not give up so easily now that she is a part of our team officially." The medic replied "Now we would not have to spread our team so thin just to keep her safe as well as our other human allies."

"Do you think it was wise to bring Sam into our fight?" Optimus questioned out of no where

"Optimus where did that come from. You know as well as I that Megatron brought him into the fight not us. He net a Con first before he met Bee. Sam chose his own path in the beginning and even though he wanted to stop he could not because of the Decepticons. The kids are no different they came into our world by accident and have helped us a great deal." Ratchet explained " Besides the kids will not leave like Sam they choice to remain Have you ever noticed that the Decepticons left Jack alone when he was a day with out Arcee. They sa that he was not part of our fight and he was of no interest to them the two that were in our care were of more interaste to Megatron then some kid that got mixed up in all this."

"Thank you for your wise words old friend." He replied

"Wow Ratchet who knew you had such a soft side.' Smokescreen teased

"Talk to Ava or Rafeal about it. Most of the humans we worked with before we came to Jasper knows I have a soft side, those two are the ones here that know." Ratchet replied

"I will head out on patrol if you need me Ratchet." Optimus announced and walked out.

"Didn't he just come from patrol?" The young bot asked

"Yes, he probably wants to get more energon, or since he found that cave he wants to go around to make sure the Decepticons are no where near Jasper. He could even bee seeing if Megatron found the cavern that he found the energon in, if not he might call for a ground bridge so we can get more." the medic replied

It was a while later that the others arrived back at the base just in time for them to leave through the ground bridge so they could load up the energon in to the base. They spent the whole night harvesting the energon and bringing it back to base, making sure to get all of the precious rock that was inside of that cavern before looking for another one to look for more energon so they could harvest that, or at least start it before they had to collect the kids, then they would take shifts while the kids were there to harvest the energon till it was time for the kids to go.

Harvesting it took almost a month, with them only pausing or short breaks or to pick up the kids, or to drop them off back at their homes. As the bots were all taking a break they got a call from Agent Fowler

"PRIME!" he called

"Agent Fowler what is it that you want?" Optimus asked calmly like he always did.

"The Cons are attacking a military base, we could use an assist. I have already evacuated the facility and my boys are holding them back till you get here. Some won't eave till you bots get there." he replied

"We are on our way. Ratchet a ground bridge please."

When the bridge opened Optimus and his team minus Ratchet ran through it to fight the cons, they were indeed still there at the base but from the looks of it they did not even know the Autobots were there. They contemplated on not shooting when they saw how well these humans were holding their ground against the Decepticons. When they got closer they started to shoot as they ran.

"Get to cover and get out of here." Arcee said "We will handle it from here."

The soldiers ran heading for the helicopter that was waiting to take them to safety. When they got in the leader turned around looking at Optimus and saluted him as the copter lifted up off of the ground. The Autobots fired at the cons shooting at them as they ran closer to them. One of the many expendable Decepticons that Megatron had was caring something and was being protected by the other cons that were there. A ground bridge opened and the cons got away with the unknown devise, but not with out a few casualties on the cons side. They were left wondering who that man was that saluted them and why he did that. They knew that they were respected by soldiers but they also knew that the men that fallowed Agent Fowler listened to him when he said to evacuate these men did not and they fallowed the commands of that other soldier that saluted Optimus.

When they got back to base Agent Fowler was there and he did not look pleased.

"The cons got away with a highly powerful experimental generator." He yelled

"Highly powerful?" Ratchet asked "Just how much power are we talking about?"

"Enough to power half of America and then some." was the reply

"Why would Megatron what a generator like that?" WheelJack asked

"Are the cons building another space bridge or a new weapon?" Arcee asked

"Likely." Ratchet replied

"SO what are we going to do about it?" Bulk asked

"Nothing we can do until Ratchet finds the bridge or Megatron revels the weapon." Optimus said as he looked at Bee as the scout watched cartoons.

It had been a few months since Carly decided to allow to visit the Autobots and to stay in Jaser. She had decided to go out ofr sports and choice the track team. Everyday she would take a run before she headed to the base, and WheelJack even helped out a little. When she was done training she would spend time with Miko, Jack, and Raf at the base. She even got a job at the same place as Jack worked. The kids would often ask Ava how the bots were different back then or what bots are missing that she remembered. She didn't answer alot of their questions especially the bots that were missing like IronHide. She was worried that he died in a fight when she was with her mom while they were no the run from the decepticons so she said that there were a few missing but she doesn't quite remember the bots names that well and if she said them she might mess up their names or something like calling them the nicknames she called them instead of their real names.

One day while the kids were at base they over heard that there was a relic in Japan and she wanted to go but the bots did not let her so she snuck out and fallowed the bots which led to the others to fallow her to bring her back. UNfortunetly their plans did not go as they had hoped because as soon as Miko was grabbed the bridge closed and since Ava and Rafael had Ratchets respect and got along with him well one of them was going to call him. Cons circleing the bots as the children hid from them in spaces of rocks or spaces that could hold them t oconcel them form the site of thse who would use them to get the Autobots to surender. Miko saw the relic lieing there on the ground and she ran toward it hoping to get it and bring it back to base for the bots. Her plan did not go so well as she was notied by Starscream who aimed his gun at her

"Raf call ratchet fo a bridge I'll get Miko." She demanded as she ran to her friend.

Raf called Ratchet "Ratchet we need a bridge please."

"Where are you." he questioned, he panicked when he heard Raf's voice and shooting thinking that the kids went for a walk in the cannon thinking since the Cons would be getting the relic they would be safe for a stroll without their guardians outside of the base.

"Japan."Raf replied mikly

"What are you doing there? Why are you there?"

"Miko thought she cold help by bringing the Relic to the base while the Decepticons were busy fighting Optimus and the others." Raf explained

"As thoughtful as that is she could get herself killed I'll send the bridge. Optimus might wounder why I brought a bridge up befor any of them asked for one though." Ratchet said

 **With Ava**

Ava ran and when she saw the bridge open and she saw where Miko was standing and the angle Starscream held his arm she hatchet an idea. As the cannon shot she pushed Miko out of the way in time for the blast to hit the container that the relic was in and it rolled away fast and entered the portal after the boys entered. When Ava and Miko stood up they saw that Optimus was staring at them in shock and a slightly worried expression. The girls booked it to the portal as the Bots gave them cover as they fallowed. After the bridge closed the four kids looked down in shame as they stood on the platform.

"Look if you are going to blame anyone, blame..."

"Blame me." Ava interrupted

The bots looked at her in surprise "What do you mean?" Arcee asked

"I reading out of my dad's journal and told them about how he helped you with multiple missions against the cons and fought along side of them at times. And I think that inspired Miko to go out and get the relic." She explained

"You don't have to take the blame Ava Mio has done things like this before." Ratchet explained to the girl.

"How long ago was her last one not counting today?" Ava asked

"..." no bot answered she had brought up a good point. It had been awhile since Miko ran out during a fight against the cons. Without telling anyone.

"It has been quiet some time since Miko has put herself in danger like that. But I cannot condone this again, stay away from the fights we have against the Decepticons." Optimus stated "But we are glad for your safe return."

The kids were taken home by their guardians and Smokescreen went to the mine to collect more energon leaving Optimus and Ratchet alone for a while. Neither of them spoke as they thought of what had transpired today. New Changes were happening and they all had to admit Ava's plan to get the relic to the base worked but she risked her life and Miko's for it. Miko might have been there but if she was a second to late they would have been toast and getting the relic wouldn't have mattered that much. An hour later the base received a signal from a familiar ship. It was an Autobot ship that Ratchet knew and smiled knowing who was coming and possible would stay once he found out who was here.

Ratchet smiled at what he saw "Optimus you need to see this" He called over to the prime "Looks like Ava will have another surprise waiting for her when she arrives here tomorrow."

Optimus looked at the screen and noticed the ship's signature and the symbol it produced as it drew closer Earth's orbit.

he nodded his head then replied to the medic "Make contact with it to see if it is who we believe, our numbers would increase. If it is not, we can deal with it with out getting her hopes up."


	5. Two Guardians?

Ava was waiting patiently for her ride to get there, as she read through her father's journal. Thinking back to when she could remember. Hoping and believing that the bots she knew back then were still alive. Multiple times Ava has overheard Optimus's 'we are few' speech and was worried. WheelJack was running late, and it was the fourth time that week, though she did not mind. Smokescreen has picker her up once and he was the one complaining that she was acting like Ratchet.

All she did was keep him from revealing the secoret when someone cut him off.

As she read she kept looking up to see if he was waiting for her. Sighing Ava wondered why Ratchet called her and said that they had a surprise for her. Curious as to what it could be options and situations went through her head as to what it could be. Knowing that even though WheelJack acts tough he really cares for her, she could tell everyone could tell, that he was gaining a soft spot for the Witwicky child. Bulkhead thought that it was funny that the two oldest kids that hang out with the Autobots had a connection in being an honourary Prime. Jack being selected in being that and Ava being the daughter of one. Smiling she thought that was funny for him to point out and Miko's question made her laugh "Has your dad ever been to another planet like...Cybertron?".

When a horn honked she looked up and saw her Guardian, getting her bag she stood up and headed to met him. Smiling at him hoping to know about how many cons he crushed. She did not really care as much a Miko would like to know every detail but she knew that Jackie loves to explain it so she let him tell he what all happened when she asked.

"Hey Jackie, so what's up?"

"Hey kid. Nothing really. Lets just head to base." The wrecker replied pulling out of the driveway.

"So what's going on back at base?" Ava asked

"You'll find out." was his reply

Tilting her head to the side Ava looked questioningly at her guardian and friend. Wondering why he was acting so mysterious. Sure he is WheelJack and he does not change according to Bulkhead, but right now he was not acting like the WheelJack she knew as her guardian. The ride to base was quiet much to Ava's disappointment, every time she asked a question pertaining to what is going on back at the base the reply would be the radio changing channels or the windows rolling up or down. It was like he was dodging the question and right now she had to keep up the appearance of driving so she could not call Ratchet or one of the others to see what was going on. Once they reached the outskirts of town she picked up her phone with the intention of calling someone at the base.

"You should not be on your phone while you are driving." he smirked

"I'm not driving WheelJack you are."

"Kid you are supposed to be pretending that you are driving to make it look like I'm just a regular car correct?"

"Corrected WheelJack."

"Well MECH has been active as of late and does not know about a few other bots or that another human child is art of our group yet. I would really like to keep you safe from them and they hide in the desert so please keep up the illusion." WheelJack pointed out.

"Fine. As long as you tell me why you are acting weird. You are making me concerned Jackie." Avs said softly

"Look a lot has been on my mind. With us finding new caverns filled with energon and the cons and MECH to deal with it is putting a lot of stress on us, kid. I appreciate that you are concerned for me and all but I blow off steam by blowing things up not talking." he said "Understand. So thanks for caring I guess."

"We are partners after all right? Gotta look after ya. Ya know watch your back."

"Ha. Thanks kid. You have my back and I've go yours."

When they entered the base Ava walked up to where the humans sit and saw to bots that looked familiar fighting. When they saw her they stopped arguing and looked at her.

"Is that Ava?" the red one asked looking at the brunette that just entered

"It looks like it but it is not possible, Carly and Ava left before we headed off this planet. It would be impossible for it to be her." the green one said

"Look I say it is her."

"No it is not."

"Yes it is."

"Is not."

"Is so."

"Is not."

"Yes."

"No."

"Is to time a million."

"Is not time aa million and one"

The twin went back and forth arguing about whether it was the Ava they knew back then or not. Annoying the people and both of the Autobots that were in the room. While Ava just rolled her eyes at how the twins did not change at all since she last saw then and that was eleven years ago. BumbleBee was about ready to stand up and toss the agruing sibling around, for interrupting his favorite show when.

"BANG!"

"Retreat!" Mudflap yelled

"It is the return of Hatchet!" Skids cried

The noise made everyone but Ratchet, Bee and Ava jump. Mostly because they were used to the sound by now, looking over they all saw the medic pick up his tool from the ground, and it was surprisingly not anywhere near where the twins were standing.

"What? I just dropped my wrench why are you looking at me like that?" the medic questioned

"Hey Ratchet, why did those bots run away when you dropped it?" Jack asked

"Probably, because they think I was tossing it at them or was going to." he replied

"Would you toss it at them?" Rafael asked looking nervously at the medic.

"No, at least not if your name is not...Mudflap or...Skids."Ava said slowly "The twins bug everyone I'm actualy surprised that Optimus has not lost his cool around them."

"You still remember that?"

The medic replied in awe. "You were just a sparkling barely a youngling."

The three kids looked confused till Bee Buzzed *"Sparkling is baby or a young child and youngling is an older child."*

A while after the discussion about sparklings or younglings a gruff laugh was heard near the hallway to the rest of the base turnig around Ava's eyes widened at who she saw. "Is that IronHide?" she asked noone in particular.

"What was that Ava?" Rafael asked, as he and the other two fallowed her gaze

"You know that bot?" Jack asked surprised that she could remember from that far back as young as she was when she last saw them.

"Possibly, I don't know it could be him or maybe not I don't know." she admitted

When the bot looked at her he smiled and said "Is that you Squirt," The bot asked

"Who else would it be Hide." she replied with a smile on her face as she watched as the bot made his way over to her.

"Hehe. Still calling me that huh."

"As long as you call me Squirt, I'll continue to call you Hide." the girl replied "Guys this is IronHide my first guardian with the Autobots, I was wondering where he and a few of the others were when I was reunited with the bots."

"So wait, you if IronHide is your guardian then what will happen to WheelJack?" Miko asked looking at the wrecker who looked shocked to find that out and a little disappointed.

"I'm sure Optimus would have Ava decide or he will just have WheelJack continue on being her guardian to avoid suspicions with the public." Ratchet said unknowingly putting the wreckers fears to rest for the time being. "Thought I'm positive IronHide will be on the reserves if something should happen to one of the others to make them not able to pick up their charges."

The rest of the day was spent with Ava catching up with the weapons expert, much to WheelJacks displeasure. when it came time for the guardians to take their charges home WheelJack transformed quickly and once Ava got in he sped his way out of the base surprising the girl in the passenger seat.

"Jackie slow down. What's the hurry?" she asked looking a bit scared at how the wrecker was acting.

The car slowed down enough to calm down the brunette "Sorry kid I guess I sped out a little to fast."

"A little! WheelJack you almost broke 100 miles per hour!" she yelled "I don't care if you speed like that when you are alone and on the dirt road but please not when we are in town or when you have a passenger."

"Kid relax it will be alright I will slow down keep calm." WheelJack offered

"..." Ava did not know how to reply to him, so she just nodded as they headed to Ava's house.

When she was dropped off she said her goodbyes to her Guardian and headed into her house. Then proceeded to tel her mom what happened that day when Carly got home. She could tell that her daughter was glad to know that her first guardian was safe and back on Earth. Though she wondered what would happen to WheelJack now that IronHide was back, would the weapons expert take back his job at being her guardian or will WheelJack continue on protecting Ava. As much as Carly would want her daughter to be driving a safe car, much like the one IronHide transforms into, it would make more sense for Ava to continue on having WheelJack as her guardian to avoid suspicions fro MECH and other people asking to many questions.

Carly WitWicky knew how close her daughter was to her former guardian and wondered how this would play out. Ava was like her father once the Decepticons had her they never stopped chasing her. At least now they stay away from the city's so she can hide. Though like Sam she rarely did, and she had to accept this was what her daughter wanted to do, and should have figured that she would want to help the Autobots out. Smiling to herself she shook her head and looked at her daughter as she talked to Miko about what they were going to do the next day,if the decepticons did not attack or MECH involvement. SHe knew that lately MECH had been more observant and determined to catch once of the Cybertronians and the Autobots were the ones who had to be on their toes more than the Decepticons had to because their base was on the ground rather than the air like the Decepticon's warship.

In the morning Carly had one of those rare days off so she was relaxing in the living room while her daughter was getting ready to spend some time with the Autobots and the other three children that hung out at the base. She was surprised to See WheelJack here early to pick up Ava. Not that he was never early. It was just that normally at this time he would be driving around for half an hour to patrol that area around their neighborhood. But he stayed here and put like an ordinary car making her suspect that this MECH was behind why he was acting like this and decided to talk the the wrecker to see if it was anything that she should be concerned about. Walking outside she casually made her way to her daughter's guardian with her headphones on and picked up the hose and started to water the flowers in front of the house.

"WheelJack is there anything that I should be concerned about?" she asked

"Like what?" Was his reply "With Ava?"

"No...well not exactly I mean about the others. Is MECH getting closer to finding out that you know."

"Carly look there is nothing to worry about MECH is not that much of a problem. If they do turn into a problem we wil make a plan to stop it." the wrecker replied "I promised Optimus, Bee and Ratchet that I would take care of Ava and now I am promising you. I will make sure nothing will happen to your daughter."

"Thank you WheelJack." she replied with a smile

She was about to add more but the front door opened up and AVva shot out and ran to the two.

"Bye mom." she said giving her a quick hug and hoped in when he opened the door for her and the two drove off.

Carly just smiled and shook her head again and said "She is defenitly your daughter Sam. She is so much like you, should have guessed she would want to follow in your footsteps." then she entered the house again knowing her daughter would be spending time with people who would protect her and wondering why she did not trust them in the first place despite knowing them for a long time.

At the base Ava once again hung out with IronHide and this time the others noticed how WheelJack looked but did not say anything to him about it. They wanted to make sure they were right instead of him just worrying about her being safe because that could be a decepticon in disguise instead of an autobot friend. They wanted to make sure he was not suspicious of the weapons expert of being a Decepticon despite him not knowing IronHide. They only hoped it was just him being cautious about the new bots and was only looking out for Ava's safety., and not him being jealous of the black bot.

Days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months since the new bots came and Ava was finishing up her training to tryout to join the tract team was coming up. She was sitting on IronHide's shoulder like she would do with Jackie when they came back from either training, or just having a drive in the cannon. When she saw the wrecker she smile brightly but missed seeing him roll his optics at the site of her sitting on Hide's shoulder.

Swallowing his anger he walked up to them and asked "Ava ready to train for the upcoming tryouts for the track team?"

The human flinched slightly and was barely noticed and by anyone who was not looking at her. She had just gotten back from practicing with IronHide since WheelJack was busy on an energon run for Optimus at the moment and she waited for three hours before she finally accepted his offer to help her practice for just today. Not wanting to make her guardian jealous or hate IronHide she nodded and said "Sure I could really use the practice, tryouts are coming up fast and I need to be ready."

With her former guardian's help she quickly made her way from his shoulder to her current guardian's shoulder. Then they left so she could practice.

"I'm starting to think that he does not like me that much." IronHide said as soon as he was sure they were out of the base.

"He probably jealous that you are hanging out so much with Ava." Bulkhead replied "He has been watching over her since she found out the secoret again and joined the team."

"I understand that Bulkhead. But does he have to be that protective over Squirt." the black bot countered

"IronHide just let it go I'm sure once he warms up to you he will be alright" said Elita giving him a warm motherly smile making him laugh.

Elita-one was always the motherly one of the three sisters. Mostly because she had a sparking of her own, but rarely saw him because of the war and that they were always separated. Arcee was alway the one to be overprotective of everyone she was either partnered with, teamed up with or if they were family, and Chroma was the worry and the empathetic one among them.

"IronHide please just calm down and know that WheelJack will warm up to you eventualy. He is a wrecker that has been giving the job of guarding a WitWicky and we all know how much a trouble magnet her father was. So I am sure he is just making sure she is safe." Chroma said smiling "Remember how over protective Bee was of Sam. He only let very few people give him a ride, but it was mostly him or Optimus that was watching over him."

"She is right." Arcee said "Witwicky's are a magnet for Decepticons and WheelJack was the only one that seemed fit besides BumbleBee to handle it when she came. With you here now he has to wonder if he is as much as a candidate as BumbleBee is anymore."

"The wrecker has kept her safer then I did." Hide said with a small smile. "All she ever talks about is him. If not then she is wondering what I did in space."

Tryouts passed and Ava made the team and during their third match was on a relay race and was the last one. As she waited she smiled when she saw IronHide sitting in the parking lot, and was shocked to see Optimus sitting there as well. She was told that certain times he would show up and the other guardians were watching to. WheelJack said he would probably show up later and she figured he was somewhere watching and waiting for it to be clear to park. When the gun blew the race started and they were off. It was against three other schools in this small town to and the first two would move on to the next round. As she waited for her turn to run her eyes were locked with her blonde haired team mate waiting for him to run when he was off her eyes followed him so they could make the transaction smoothly when he got close enough she grabbed the baton and ran toward the finish line. She was ahead of the group and she made the mistake of taking her eye off the finish line to steal a glance at the parking lot.

When she looked at the parking lot her heart shattered, she did not see WheelJack there at all. She could not believe that her guardian was not there the other guardians were there and ratchet and Optimus were even there. Ratchet came with Nurse Darby so she could be on standby if they were needed her. Optimus made sure to be at lest one of their outdoor activities and yet he had been to all three of her meets. She closed her eyes tight then refocused on her goal and then tripped, flipping over herself she landed face first on the ground, pain erupting from her right leg as she tried to stand quickly. Taking a deep breath she noticed all three of her opponents passed her. Getting up she ran as fast as she could while she limped with her right. She ran passed one of the players and was neck in neck with the second place raser. Pushing herself a little harder forcing herself to run a little faster she shot a head of the other. crossing the finish line a mere five seconds before she did. Walking over to the grass she collapsed on the ground with a sobbing breath of air. Her right leg really stung. She was met with Nurse Darby who quickly checker her leg by doing a simple test. She could tell it was not broken because Ava would not ave been able to run on it and would have screamed as soon as she tried to stand. It was either twisted or sprained.

After a quick looked June said "Ava your leg is sprained and I recommend that you take it easy for a few days."

Ava quickly nodded and the winner and both one of the losing racers assisted her in getting up and lead her to her friends to take her to her ride. One Jack and Miko got her up the hill and to IronHide, while Raf brought her bag up with him. They, once n the road, were asked questions on what happened.

"We don't know Ava just looked up at the parking lot and when she looked forward she fell." Rafael said nervously

"She looked as though she was about to cry." Miko added

"Has anyone seen WheelJack. He said he was going to be here maybe that's whats got her down." Jack offered

"Ava, what is wrong?" Arcee asked

"..."

"Squirt you alright?" IronHide questioned

"..."

"Ava, please talk to us. We would like to help you. But we can not do that unless to tell us what has brought you to this state." Optimus offered

"He promised." was all she said looking as if she was going to cry at any second

"Now Squirt, please be a little more clear?"

"He promised that he was going to be here." She cried "WheelJack promised me and he did not show again. I know it is only the third track meet but still he...he said he would be here. He missed it again" tears of a broken heart were falling from her face.

*"It will be ok Ava everything will be alright."* the scout said over the radio through the cons causing Ava to smile at his emphasis on the word be.

Though it was only short lived as her sadness crept back and she looked down and sighed a depressed tone.


	6. Trapped within the walls

When they got beck to the base Ava was helped out of the passenger seat of the black jeep and helped up the stairs by BumbleBee who picked her up and sat her down on the couch in the area the humans usually hang out. With her still wearing her frown on her face. IronHide, Arcee and Bulkhead left to go and do patrol for decepticon activity while the second group that consisted of Smokescreen, Chroma, the twins (Skids and Mudflap), and WheelJack. Elita had stayed behind in case of emergency.

Rafael brought a pillow from the couch so she could keep her foot elevated while it healed. As Miko and Jack played a videogame Raf and Ava talked about the past and what she read in her father's journal. Looking up she saw Optimus looking at the screens and looking behind her Ratchet was working in his medical lab. Ava smiled and continued to talk to Raf. When they heard the rev of engines all of them looked up to see the others enter the base. Bringing a small smile to Ava's face but her eyes held sorrow in them. She was still disappointed that her guardian could not be there for her but she understood that he needed to scout out for energon. Elita and Chroma Transformed and headed to where Arcee was so they could talk while, Smokescreen decided to see what the kids were doing while WheelJack decided to go and see Bulkhead until

"Ava, what happened to your leg?" Smokescreens voice asked

Turning around the wrecker looked at his charge and finally noticed that her right leg was bandaged up and resting on a pillow

"Kid, what happened?" he asked clearly concerned for his charge. He did not even care that his voice held worry in it or he looked very concerned for her.

"Nothing happened I am Fine Jackie." she said a little more bitterly than she would have liked and it caught the others off guard. Optimus even looked at her. Realising how bitter she sounded she took a deep breath and replied "I am fine I fell during my meet today and sprained my ankle and will have to be off of it for a few days"

"That was today!? Ava I am sorry I missed it. I assumed it was tomorrow." WheelJack answered

"It's fine." she said looking back at her father's journal

Confusing the others at how her attitude was, normally she was quick to forgive , but now she looked like she was holding a grudge against him. It shocked the wrecker too, she was not normally aggressive, but right now she was. Sure she was acting like a wrecker but she was not facing any decepticons.

"Alright as long as you are alright." he said slowly "So how did you do?"

"Second place." Ava replied with a small smile

"Nice. Just be careful next time. I do not want you getting hurt." he said with a small smile.

Throughout the week WheelJack helped Ava out with strengthening her right leg again and helping her with the obstacle course and BumbleBee helped out too.

"Ava careful try not to fall." the wrecker said as she walked next to his charge on one side of the course.

BumbleBee was on the other side just incase she jumped one of the lines and ran there and fell. The wrecker spent the last few days with his charge helping her with exercises and training to get her strength back up. She was currently racing against Raf's toy car to see if she can at least keep up.

"Come on Ava you can do this." Miko cheered as she ran.

"Raf can that cargo any faster?" Jack asked

"Sure it can." replied the youngest of the children there "But I want Ava to take it in levels like a game. It is easy at first then it starts to get challenging."

When a new car entered the base Ava smiled a little. Her mom was using her lunch break to visit her and the bots. When she came out of the car her daughter limped over to her and gave her a hug.

"Hi Ava, Rafael, Jack, Miko." Carly said

"Hey" Miko replied

"Hi, Ms Witwicky" Jack and Raf said

"Hi mom. What are you doing here?" Ava asked

"Well I am here to see how you are doing."

"...Mom I'm fine. The Autobot base is very safe so I would not be running alot." she replied wit a small blush

Turning to Ratchet she added "How are you doing Ratchet?"

"Fine." he replied not looking up from his work.

"Is Optimus around?"

"No, he headed out on patrol with a small group." the medic replied

"Alright, well I will leave and see you later Ava." she said and headed to her car

When she left no one decided to commit on how she acted. They all knew that Carly usually talked to Optimus when she arrives at the base. So it was not uncommon for her to ask where the prime was. While Ava worked on again the prime entered the base with the small group and saw how WheelJack was helping Ava with BumbleBee. Looking at IronHide he saw that the weapons expert looked at his former charge with a small smile. Optimus knew that those two were close, but she was also close to WheelJack and BumbleBee. Looking back at the wrecker he saw that the wrecker did not care if the scout helped out with Ava's workout to strengthen her leg.

A few weeks later Ava was sitting down resting for the day per Ratchet's request. As she was sitting down she smiled when she saw her guardian WheelJack and was hoping that he would walkover so they could hang out for a while, or for the day. He had been so busy looking for energon caves for the Autobots. Smiling lightly at his charge he made his way over to her and frowned when he saw IronHide enter with Optimus.

Bee was watching TV with the kids and WheelJack wanted to get to Ava before IronHide prevented him from spending some time with his charge. But was called over by the prime as IronHide walked over to Ratchet to tell him something. When the wrecker made it to the prime he looked over his shoulder to see IronHide talking to ratchet and Ava still watching TV.

"It seems as though you have been distant from Ava lately." Optimus started "And she understands that you are busy looking for energon caverns. IronHide believes that he may have found one and I want you and him to scout it out. If you do not mind, and see if there is any energon in there."

"Well who will take Ava home then?" the wrecker replied "If you are worried about me spending time with Ava shouldn't we spend time together." When he looked over his shoulder again he saw Ava talking to the weapons expert and laughting at what he said. "I'll go but does it have to be with IronHide. Can't it be the scout."

At the mention of his title Bee got up and headed over to where Optimus and WheelJack where *"You want me to go out into the field Optimus, I do not mind, I think Hide would not mind taking Raf home"* Bee buzzed

Just then WheelJack yelled "FINE I DO NOT CARE IRONHIDE CAN COME WITH ME!"

Causing everyone to jump with surprise and BumbleBee to be pulled behind Optimus once again out if the sheer shock at what happened. WheelJack rarely yells. For him to yell meant something must have been going on. He is usually the type of bot to keep it calm in situations and his voice never rose from the sarcastic sounding tone of his voice.

"WheelJack." Ava said softly looking at him in shock

"Hehe. Guess I'd better go. Just your luck huh Ava. Alway being paired up with the temperamental ones." Hide joked

Ava looked from the black bot to her guardian with a small frown that changed into a small smile "Speak for yourself Hide.

Jackie is not like that usually." _'He has been acting different ever since IronHide came. Is...Is he ...jealous?'_

she thought as she watched the bots leave After a few seconds of awkward silence they all relaxed and went back to doing what they were doing before the outburst. While the children were occupied with what was on TV the Autobots talked about how they were concerned with WheelJack and his outburst not two minutes ago.

 **With WheelJack and IronHide**

The two made it to the cave without uttering a single word. When they entered they had transformed knowing that they could walk around without being seen. They walked deeper into the cavern, looking to see if there was any energon inside of the walls, or if this was just an ordinary cave. When they found bits of energon they wondered if this was all that was in there or if there was more. As they continued to walk they wondered if this was an abandoned Decepticon mining site.

"So your Ava's guardian now?" Hide asked

"Yeah, got a problem with that?" WheelJack snapped

"Whoa, save the venom for the Cons," IronHide said putting his hands up as a sign that he meant no harm "No need to bite my head off."

After another minute or two the weapons expert broke the silence once more "You should try to be in the same ship as the twins, they will get on your, as the humans say, never." he said as he tried a bit of humor.

"..." WheelJack sighed as he sliced away at the ground that held a large clump of energon in side the rocks.

The monument he dug out the large clump the floors of the cavern broke apart as the two bots fell down into a deep dark abyss below as rocks filled up where they were standing.

 **Back At The Base**

"Optimus you need to see this!" the medic called, then added "Only Optimus. So turn around and go back to doing what you were doing before." Not wanting the children to know what has happened.

"What is it old friend?" the prime asked then looked at the monitor and his neutral face turned grim.

Noticing this Arcee asked the prime "Are you alright?"

BumbleBee looked up and saw that both WheelJack's and IronHide's life signals went off line. Getting scared he stood up and walked a little bit over to the others and whispered *"Should we tell Bulk and Ava or first go and see if they are..."*

Optimus Prime shook his head as he thought of what to do.

"Optimus they need to know about what has come to pass. Even if they are not... they still need to know." the medic replied

"That is the difficult part Ratchet. It is not only Bulkhead we have to be concerned about." the Prime announced softly

As the three discuss it more Bulkhead returned with the four kids from their drive. Laughing at what had happened moments before they entered the base. Bulkhead had taken them dune bashing and the other three admitted on the way back that it was a lot more fun than they thought it was going to be and they actually enjoyed it. Even Bulkhead was laughing at what the Prime knew he would have to break up the laughter, the sound he enjoyed hearing when he entered the base after a solo patrol. Before he could get a word out the laughter died down and Bulkhead noticed the grim look on Optimus's face and the scout was not making any eye contact with him or any of the children especially Rafael.

"Optimus what is wrong?" the former wrecker asked looking at his leader

"Bulkhead, Ava there is something that we need to discuss." He stated with a sigh

Ava asked "What is it?" as she sat on the railing of the little loft area.

Looking down at Ava he did not want to tell her she lost someone else that was close to her or that there was a possibility that she did so he sighed again and got ready to tell her. Only he did not get the chance.

"Oh no." Miko gasped when she saw the screen.

"Miko? "What's wrong?" the boys asked and looked up noticing the same thing she did

"Not good." Jack stated looking between Ava, Bulkhead and the screen.

"How?" Raf questioned.

"What had gotten into you three?" Ava wondered as she looked at the bewildered expressions her friends had.

Looking between the three children and his team mates the dark green bot demanded "Tell me what is going on."

*"Your not going to like it."* the scout said through the radio

"Like What?" the Witwicky child asked

Sighing the Prime decided to act quickly and tell them. If they get mad at him them he would have to live with that. He said "WheelJack's and IronHide's life signals have gone offline."

"WHAT!" Ava's shrill shriek snapped the three kids out of their blank stairs and made the bots flinched

"Did it happen in flickers or just dropped offline?" Bulkhead asked staying perfectly calm.

Looking at the Prime the medic gave a look to him wondering if he should say. With a swift nod Ratchet answered "They dropped offline quickly. Not even a flicker before it happened."

The green bot remained silent as he processed the fact that his honorary brother could possibly be offlined. Also the fact that the smartest weapons expert could be downed as well.

"There is no life signal..." Ava responded with a quiver in her voice "Does...Doesn't that mean that they are..." She could not finish her thought. As she folded her hand and closed her eyes, catching Ratchets attention; though he said nothing about it.


	7. Safe for now

Ava sat on the ground near where she fell down from crying, no one knew how to comfort the girl. Though they did try with little success. Jack mentioned that the bots could be too far underground to for the signal to reach them. She countered with the fact that the signals dropped off quickly instead of gradually. So they decided to let her calm down on her own or wait for Optimus to come back in and deal with her. As they waited to hear from the prime on the situation concerning IronHide and WheelJack. They all could tell that the girl was anxiously waiting to hear from Optimus, her eyes were fixed on the door only moving when she was addressed of to look at the ground bridge every time it opened.

When Optimus Prime finally entered the base through the ground bridge he looked at the faces of the human's and his teammates, sighing he decided to give them the news.

"Optimus?" Ava asked with a pleading look in her eyes

Closing his eyes the Prime decided to get it over with and tell everyone there. "I went to where we lost the signal and found that a path was blocked by rocks. I will take a team to dig them out. the path could be a slump of just a hole that was in the ground they jumped down." He sighed "Since we do not know how long it will take I am instructing the other three to help out meaning you would have to ride with the one that complies with your schedule."

"Yes, Optimus." she replied saddly

"The rest of us will take shifts to dig up the rocks." the prime stated

All the other bots nodded their heads, that night Bulkhead took her home and in the morning BumbleBee was going to pick her up. The car ride was silent with Miko trying hard to get her to smile with some of her and Bulk's favorite music. Thoughit was a good effort it did not even make her look up. Not at least till she got home, she looked at Bulk and Miko and thanked them for the ride home and slowly walked into the house.

Bulkhead drove Miko home as she bounced ideas off of him to get Ava to smile again, at least for a little while. Even though the former wrecker kept saying that right now all the girl needed was time to think or just to be alone for the monument. He did not know how much like Sam she was or like Carly. he knew for a fact that when Sam was sad he wanted to be left alone to sort out everything. Either that or he did not want anybody to see him cry. While Carly would only want to be away from the one that made her mad, witch in why she left the Autobots. She was mad at them for failing to save her husband, but eventually for her daughter's safety, and for the fact that Ava was already settled into life with the bots and had a guardian.

The bots stayed up all night working to free the two trapped Autobots, hoping to get them out before Ava and the others arrived there the next day. All of them got straight to work and moved as quickly and carefully as they could. They did not know how far down the hole went or want to cause the ground to crack and get them all stuck, or even hurt IronHide and WheelJack. BumbleBee wanted to help like the others, but since he was younger then the rest and unaccustomed to staying up for days in a row he started to get tired. The longest the scout has stayed up was five nights in a row. He did not like or want to count the time Megatron tormented him inside his mind when he retrieved the cure from the leader of the Cons in the Decepticons own comatosed state.

"BumbleBee if you are tired return to base. You need to be alert tomorrow when you pick Raf. You also need to tell us if you will be picking up Ava." Optimus stated "If you do not wish to someone else would."

*"I can pick her up Optimus...I'm...not...tired"* the scout buzzed lightly as if he were yawning.

"Bee you're tired. Get some rest you stayed up three days in a row. We will wake you in a few." Arcee said kindly knowing the tone she used would almost always get him to do what they were telling him.

*"I wanna...want to help."* He buzzed and rubbed below his optic as if he was trying to banish the tired feeling

"BumbleBee get back to base and get some rest." Elita demanded "You are tired and you can't help anyone if you are too tired to even move."

After backing up to Optimus and begging for a few more hours, or minutes knowing he could always sway the Prime to have his way for a reasonable amount of time depending on what he was asking for, when he was younger. Hoping that it would work, mostly because it has seemed as if the Prime was getting immune to his hurt bot look. Though it did work on occasion

"Elita we will let him finish the hour then he will head back to base." Optimus compromised

"Fine but not a minute or a nano second later." She said sternly at the prime with no one but Smokescreen batting an optic at the scene.

Walking over to Bulkhead he asked "Hey Bulkhead, why did Elita talk back to Optimus Prime? I mean he should have the authority over her right, and Bee."

"Haha, Smokescreen every bot that was a part of the team back in DC knows that only a select amount of people can have the authority to yell at Optimus. The Witwicky family, mainly Carly and possibly Ava. Sam never raised his voice at the him might have called him or tried to help out in the field but never like Elita just did. Arcee, Chromia, and Elita. Especially Elita when it has to do with BumbleBee. Those two raised Bee on Cybertron for a few years before Bee became our scout, after that they split to join their teams of Autobots."

"So Elita has authority over Bee."

"Not as much as Optimus. But kinda and she was very protective over Bee. I heard when news of what happened to Bee at Tiger Pax reached Elita, she flipped at what happened and it took quite a few of her teammates just to hold her back fromattacking buckethead himself." Bulk whispered "Ever since that day everyone has been on the protective side of our scout."

"Makes sense." Smokescreen replied as he watched the youngest bot finish up his shift for the time being.

The Autobots were not the only ones up, Ava could not sleep thinking about her guardian and best friend and her first guardian old friend. Trying to sleep was making her board and she had tried all the remedies she could think of. Counting sheep, counting backwards from a hundred, so she was hanging upside down knowing that she would fall asleep eventualy. Deciding after a while not to have all the blood run to her head to accomplish this she started to read in Sam's journal.

 **{Sam's journal Sam's POV}**

 _I could see that the bots were getting accustomed to a child walking around their base. It seemed as if anything Cybertronian Ava wanted to know it all. Ratchet had promised her that he would in time teach her how to read Cybertronian so she could help out more with her job as being the ambassador between the bots and the planet, much like I am. Though I still have my cubicle desk job, I work with the Autobots when necessary. Carly freaked out when Bee tossed Ava into the air one day while they were messing around. He caught and Ava's laughter filled the base, though Bee agreed not to do that often._

 _Ratchet was the bot Ava hung out wit the most and he promised that when she was a littel bit older that he would teach her how to read Cybertronian. But BumbleBee was her favorite bot I believe. She would always bring BumbleBee one of her story books to read it to her. A few times she headed to Optimus. If you have seen a serious person read a book about unicorns and fairies let me tell you that it is ten times funnier with a serious Bot reading it. Though it was only on rare occasions Optimus took on the story teller for us. It was usually Bee so he could read the same story but she heard a different story each and every time. Ava was givn a special pin to her by Lieutenant Lanax to be used when she wanted to enter the base in either an emergency or if no bot could pick her up._

 _My daughter would one day take over being the ambassador between the Autobots and the planet Earth. It would be less of a fight for the Bots to stay when it would be brought up the fact that she was practically raised by them and her human family but like all good times with the bots I feel that Ava would be dragged into something that I do not want her in. I'm glad that she was born in this time of peace. Hopefuly we can raise her and she can be a fighter and the junior ambassador when the Decepticons return. I think that IronHide is calming out, he hides it well, but a little human girl has finally given the tought, weapons exert a soft side. That Bot always wanted to go and shoot something but now he only trains when Ava is either with someone else's or asleep. I heard they have a few plans ready incase but not a lot. Not even I know of the plans, and every one says that I am the only human that Optimus trusts._

 **{Normal POV}**

Ava had tears coming from her eyes as she read. But laughed t the image of Optimus Prime reading her a unicorn story, noting that he was a serious bot who rarely to never broke his calm attitude. Maybe that is why he always fell asleep faster when he read it. She remembered the pin, she had it in her bag that she always carried with her, Carly gave it to her when she was nine and told her that her father and his team on the military made his daughter her own badge, although it was in pin form. She said it felt right for her to have it.

When she read about IronHide that reminded her about her trapped friends. 'Why was WheelJack acting like that?' She asked herself 'Was he jealous of Hide? Why would he be, I've spent more time with him then Hide. If anything I would expect Hide to be jealous of Jackie.' Saying a quick prayer of safety for her bot friends she headed off to a restless sleep.

 **With WheelJack and IronHide**

"Now we are stuck down here. great." WheelJack said "rather be stuck down here with Ratchet" he added quietly

"Ok, now I know something is up," IronHide said "tell me what is going on?"

WheelJack turned to Hide with venom in his optics "Like I would tell you!" the wrecker snapped

"I know it has something to do with Squirt, for a fact." the weapons expert said

"Squirt? Oh, you mean Ava" he replied "Why would this have anything to do with her?" he sat down on a rock looking at IronHide.

The weapons expert smiled lightly and explained "Ava is your charge and you are responsible for her."

"Right." WheelJack confirmed "And I do not like the fact that you are trying to steal her form me. I can watch Ava by myself and I do not need you help."

IronHide looked shocked at what the wrecker had said, and stared at him wide optic. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. I am not trying to steal Squirt from you. I watched over her when she was little and we were just catching up." IronHide laughed "She talks about you often. How you snuck her into a battle by her request, how you protected her when she snuck into battle. When even though you had no idea what you were doing you attempted to calm her down, when her mother was taken from her by Megatron himself. I am just glad Carly is safe, and Squirt is happy again."

"She...She has been talking about me?" WheelJack questioned in surprise "I had no idea she...I knew she cared but...I."

"Yes she has been talking about you. A lot. I was starting to get jealous of you, from how much she has talked about you, she remembers a little bit of the time we spent together." IronHide added "I mean Squirt and I were close...but not as close as she was to BumbleBee or even Optimus. Imagine your charge was taken from you because the parent has given up on your team. You leave and after a while you come back, to see your charge. Unfortunately to your surprise you see that they have another guardian. When you try to catch up with them, knowing and understanding that when you were gone they needed protection, all they talk about is their new guardian and what they did for them."

"Wow... and I was a jerk to her she must hate me right now." WheelJack sighed

"Hahah. One thing I can tell you about her is that she could never hate an Autobot. Well she would never be mad at you." IronHide said hoping to cheer him up "Now let me tell you something that might help you with Squirt."

 **The next morning at the Base**

Ava was now pacing back and forth now getting worried about her trapped friends they were not back yet. She had already been at the base for a few hours and she had work this morning so that was another four hours on top of that. It was taking all her willpower not to break down crying right there, but she knew it was too soon to know for sure if they were safe or not.

"Dude, you do know that you aren't supposed to put too much pressure on your ankle yet." Miko said as she tried to get her to sit down "You are going to hurt it even more."

"I know and I don't care right now. I'm more worried about Hide and WheelJack."Ava replied "Then I am about running in next month's race, or my ankle healing slower."

"Ava sit down right now!" Ratchet yelled at her "All you are doing is going to hurt yourself even more than you are already

and I do not think that WheelJack or IronHide would want to find out that you hurt yourself for nothing but a few dents."

"Besides Ava they probably just fell down into a cavern on some weak ground." Raf said as the girl plopped down on the couch.

Looking at the ground bridge tears filled her eyes as the image of WheelJack and IronHide fell from the ground collapsing under them. "That is what I'm afraid of." she said

"Ava elevate your leg please it needs to heal." Ratchet said looking up from his work to watch as the girl placed a pillow from the couch on the table and rest her leg on it.

"Go easy on her Hatchet." the red twin said

"Yeah, lightin' up, she is just worried." the green bot snapped.

"I am trying to think of her health, yes she is healing and should try to walk around and push herself but not so far the DAY after her injury. She should not exert herself by using her ankle so much in a short period of time!" the medic yelled

"Retreat!" Mudflap and Skids yelled and then scrambled into another room to get away from the angry medic, tripping over each other in fear.

This caused Ava to laugh knowing that the twins haven't changed a bit, even after eleven years. "Ratchet have they found them yet?" Ava asked

Sighing he looked at the girl calmly and answered "No, not yet, I'll let you know as soon as I find out."

With a sigh Ava nodded her head as she looked at the ground bridge again. As she wrapped her arms around her waist hugging herself.

*"Why did Optimus leave the twins here anyway. Why not take them with him?"* BumbleBee said upset that they had pulled another prank on him.

"I know what you mean Bee, but even if it would be calmer in here with us blasting them off planet, but we need all the help we can get. Even if some of the help is annoying." Ratchet explained

"Arcee to base. Could you send BumbleBee to pik up Jack or send the twins here to relieve me while I go and get Jack from work, Ratchet." Arcee com-linkedin

"Skids you go and relieve Arcee." Ratchet said knowing he would lose it if the twins were here alone with him, knowing that they could not possible try to pull one on them with the Autobots being giants to the children, with the twins and their love of pranking not everyone was safe.

 **With Optimus and Bulkhead**

Skids arrived after Arcee left through the ground bridge. "So we find anything yet?" he joked only to be knocked down by Bulkhead.

"Look WheelJack and IronHide are down there and can not communicate with us, their signals vanished here so we are digging till we find them, so STOP joking around and get to work." Bulkhead snapped at the red bot.

"Skids I advise you start working" Optimus said to the red bot "Ratchet send Mudflap out."

When the bridge opened up Mudflap came flying out of the base making Bulkhead and Optimus consider that either BumbleBee tossed him out or Ratchet tossed him out.

 **With Smokescreen and the others**

"Even though it is nice here, I'm thinking on exploring a bit more." Chromia said as she drove in her motorcycle form that was similar to Arcee's but black.

"I might stay, I don't know I like it here." Elita said as she drove in her reddish pinkish motorcycle form.

"Can we focus on the mission please, and whose ship would you drive. WheelJack is Ava's guardian so his ship is out and I doubt that IronHide would want to leave. By the way he addressed Ava by calling her Squirt I doubt he would leave again."

Smokescreen said as he drove his sports car form

"She must be worried about them. It might have been my imagination but when we left it looked as though Ava was going to cry." Elita said

 **With WheelJack and IronHide**

"Really, you don't say?" Jackie asked from his resting place on the caveron floor looking at the other cave with energonin it, they found it not that long ago.

"Yes, I am serious so encourage her to join more team sports when track is done." Hide said "Like a swim team. Most importantly be there for her. Do not let your anger with me effect your bind with Squirt."

"I feel horrible. Ava must hate me now." WheelJack said sadly "Not that I would blame her or anything. The way I treated her."

"You'd be surprised. Squirt has a nag for surprising people especially Cybertronians." IronHide explained

They started to hear noises like the cavern was going to collapse causing both bots to jump up to be ready when the floor started to fall. When a hole opened in the roof they heard a voice call down "Hey IronHide, Buddy are you alright?"

"A few dents and nothing more Bulkhead." IronHide called up

"We also found a cavern of energon down here." WheelJack added

After a few hours of collecting the energon they headed home. IronHide entered the bridge first followed by Optimus and the others carrying the energon like IronHide was. WheelJack grabbed the last energon sack they had and entered the portal.

When IronHide came out of the ground-bridge Ava jumped up and hugged him and jumped onto the offered servo he gave her. WheelJack put down the bag of energon and Was handed Ava who quickly bursted into tears as she hugged her guardian

"I-I was-s s-s-so worried. What h-happened?" She asked as she was sat down on her guardian's shoulder

"We are fine Ava,the floor just collapsed under us after we pulled a few energon pieces from the ground. We saw the glow of blue above but there was no way to get to the hole with out tools, and it was too small for IronHide and me to fit throught.

She looked as though she did not believe him, knowing that the wrecker always played down his injuries till either she left or he was leaking energon.

"Nothing happened aside from a few dents from the fall Squirt. We are fine, I promise." IronHIde said with a smile

At the sound of their assurance Ava smiled underneath her tears knowing that they were home and safe.

 **Somewhere in a secoret base**

"Sir we have the cell ready for our prisoner." someone told there leader. "When will we strike?"

"When they least expect it. For now we must track the Autobots every movement and see who we can get. We have to act fast and knock them out so there will be no surprises." the leader said

"What shall we do now?"

"Watch them, see who would be the easiest to get close to, the one who would be alone for enough time to take one and not around any buildings or civilians. We do not want anyone not involved in this to get involved. No one must suspect or be there, to witness our capture." he spoke as he looked at all the pictures of the Autobots with a wicked grin.


	8. a fighting start

WheelJack paced the floor of the base, he was waiting for Ava to call from her fighting lessons with Miko. Since learning about MECH and what happened in the past she was determined to learn to fight to protect them from the agency. Like they protect her from the Decepticons. Miko went with her to also learn and to make sure she does not hurt herself with trying to prove herself. He hated to think of his charge putting herself in danger for him. The children putting themselves in danger for them. Unfortunately you cannot stop a Witwicky once they set their minds to it, and Ava was as stubborn as Sam.

"WheelJack I am sure Ava is fine. Though I do not condone human casualties or to have the humans fight our battles. It is their choice to do so. It would be wrong of us to deny their wishes." Optimus said to the passing wrecker.

"Optimus, you can **NOT** be serious. You are allowing the humans to learn to fight to protect us. It is our jobs to protect them." WheelJack countered

"Then why do you follow their requests to enter the battles we face against the Decepticons." Optimus replied "Do not think I do not know that they want to help, or the fact that they just want to help. Sam helped us out on numerous occasions in the past. I do hate to have human casualties which is why I am allowing them to learn how to fight. To sharpen those reflexes and to make sure they come back safe should they follow us in the future."

"Sure it is not because of past mistakes you are allowing this. Optimus Ava told me what happen...well from what she could remember. Megatron could have easily aimed at the kid and Sam would be here with Carly or still at D.C but BumbleBee would not be here all the time." WheelJack said before walking away.

"You do not know what could have happened." Arcee said "It is not your fault Optimus, Ava already told you that. The only one blaming you is you." Arcee said having witnessed the encounter between the Prime and the wrecker. "The kids are getting into messes Sam got into. I know you think Ava...they need to do this, but is it really because you are afraid that you would lose one of them like Sam or is it because of somethin different?"

"It is nothing of concern Arcee." Optimus said and then left her standing next the the ground bridge with her arms crossed.

 **With the kids**

"That was better than I imagined it. I can't believe you talked my parents into letting me learn Ava." Raf said as they waited for their guardians to show up.

"It wasn't a problem all I told her is that karate is an excellent way to teach self defence and it helps increase hand eye coordination which is perfect of people who work on computers." Ava said with a mischievous smile that looks innocent .

"So basically manipulation." Jack said "You basically manipulated Raf's parents to let him do this."

"No she didn't Jack manipulation involves stating what you want and making it seem true. Ava did her research to know what exactly to say. True she did use a bit of manipulation but not so much that they did not have a real choice." Miko said "Otherwise she would have been more assurent when she brought up the idea to his parents."

"Still... I do not understand why you want us all to learn this skill Ava." Jack said "Defending ourselves against MECH is not the whole reason is it."

"The Bots can't harm humans. That is where we come in." Ava said "We have their backs like they have ours, that is what I learned from my dad. He had Bee's back so did Makaela. They had no training, I figured we could help out a bit, not to mention self defence could help us with the Decepticons."

"So we are learning to fight to help defend our friends" Miko pointed out in shock as they walked to the rondevu point.

"That is dangerous, MECH agence have weapons and **YEARS** of training from the **MILITARY**." Raf said "The decepticons would squash us if we ever try to fight them."

"Whoa Ava not to mention that the Decepticons would blow us to bits if we start to fight against them." Jack said

Ava was about to answer but was interrupted by BumbleBee and Arcee picking them up. Ava road with Raf and Miko while Jack 'drove' Arcee.

Once they hit the outskirts Arcee said "Ratchet we need a ground bridge." When a swirling mist of blues and greens, appeared they went through.

"What was with the ground bridge?" Ava asked "We were only about ten miles to the base?"

"MECH is getting closer to our base, with their search for us." Ratchet replied not looking up from his work "It will be for the time being that we will ground bridge when you reach the outskirts of Jasper."

"Are we sure that it would be safe if MECH is...like right outside the silo right now?" Ava questioned worried about her Autobot family.

"If the Cons could not get a location on the bots then MECH stands no chance." Miko said as she flopped down onto the couch hoping to relax from the work out their class made them do.

"True, but the Decepticons only try tracking and this silo..."

"Ava this silo is completely safe. MECH could not find us here the walls on the outside are made up of the rock and the doors are made from a non metallic metal that will not attract magnetically or set off any detectors."

"What ever happened to the base in D.C?" She asked "Did it get destroyed?"

"No, a few years after you left we decided to leave and have Lennox contact us if you ever show up looking for us. They gave the relationship to Agent Fowler and he constantly checked up on us. In the beginning we would ask if there was any word of you and Carly, as the months past we stopped asking realising that it was pointless to think Carly would ever forgive us like she did." Ratchet explained "So how was you class?"

"All we did was practice our forms after certain moves and dodges." Miko said "They said we need to be ready for anything."

"Funny for us because we really have to be ready for anything?" Raf joked as he fixed his glasses.

"I wonder why Optimus agreed to allow us to learn self defence. I thought he was against human interactions in Autobot affaires."

"Since MECH is advancing and the Decepticons are becoming relentless Optimus figured being able to defend yourselves against MECH has utmost important as keeping you safe from Megatron."

"Especially Ava." Miko stated

"What's that supposed to mean?!" the brunette snapped at her friend

"You did know the bots at an early age." Jack spoke up coming to Miko's defence.

"And what's your point. I know nothing that will be of use to MECH. I was **FIVE** when I left." Ava stated "If anything they would only get the basics their names and their directives. I might even MESS THAT UP!"

"But you have the strongest connection to the Autobots. If MECH were to find that out" Raf gulped "They could take out BumbleBee and IronHide."

"WheelJack." Miko added wide eyed

"And Optimus" Jack finished grimly

"MECH would never find out my connection with the Autobots." Ava denied "And if they did I do not think that half of them would be captured. It will **NEVER** happen."

"You are correct about one thing Ava, Optimus would never go straight in until he has thought it over, especially after witnessing what Sam when through. We Autobots know how tricky it is to capture a Witwicky for long. but still IronHide would do anything to get you back Ava, IronHide and WheelJack both."

"Even get themselves captured by humans?" Ava asked getting scared

"BumbleBee did for Sam and Makaela. He saved them from a fall and in return the group against the bots ,before MECH, captured him."

"I know the story Ratchet. My dad wrote about it in his journals. It was horrible to read, I can't even imagine how it must have felt to watch...for Makaela... my dad...Optimus." Ava said

Though the kids did not hear it Ratchet thought he over heard Optimus' name pop up in the list of people that it would be difficult to watched them take Bee away. But brushed it off as her just being protective of the Scout who is still a child by their standards.

Just then Optimus and the team he took out on came in. The team was large than he normally took so this can to a surprise to the children. Normally he would take on with him or two at the most and other times he would go out alone. Thinking that they were wach out on different trails looking for MECH, they decided to wait and talk to either the twins or IronHide later on.

"So how was your class?" Elita asked all motherly

"It was fine Elita." Ava replied smiling at her stopping Miko from complaining to the motherly bot. "All we did was work on balancing our forms as we dodged for a quick fighting recovery."

Elita smiled and then walked off to talk to her sisters.

"Why does Elita-one sound like a mom?" Rafael asked

"Elita helped raise Bee, so in a sense she is like a mother because she used to be a mother in a way." Ava said

"Makes sense." Miko shrugged and started to play a videogame with Rafael.

"So Ava any information from your dad about..." Jack asked

"Not a lot of information Jack. Some of what I read is about me just spending time with the bots. I always make sure to carry the journal I am reading with me and the others are hidden in my room somewhere. MECH did not exist when my dad was with the bots. At least not to his knowledge or mine as of yet." Ava said

"So what information did you get so far?"

"... nothing of use, just... nothing" Ava said

"It doesn't sound like nothing. I mean if it is too painful to talk about it I understand." Jack sympathised

"No it is not that...well kinda it is mostly because he said that I was supposed to take over his job as the lesion, between the Autobots and the humans." Ava said shaking her head.

"But isn't that Agent Fowler's job?" Raf asked

"Originally it was Sam's job he was part time in it so he could also keep his cubicle desk job, when Sam had Ava he wanted her to be the next lesion if she wanted to be. Had her spend some of her free time with us." Ratchet explained "If she decided against it we had a plan for that, or if she wanted to take the role her father took. Ava never minded the fact that she spent time with us."

"By the way my dad wrote it I'd say it was the highlight of my dad. Much like it is now." Ava added smiling at the medic.

"Yes, yes. Anyway Sam and Carly entrusted us with Ava on numerous occasions. It was a time of peace so it was safe for Ava to walk to the base form her school if no one was there to pick her up." Ratchet said "When the decepticons started to activate again she was assigned a permanent guardian ne to look out for constantly. That is when IronHide came into play. Bee was sent to watch over Sam and Carly. When Bee dropped Carly off at work another bot would look after her. We had... thought we had everything figured out to protect the family from Megatron."

Ava visibly flinched at being reminded about what happened to her dad, and Ratchet saw this and back tracked. "The good thing is that the Decepticons did not get to you and Carly while you went with out Autobot protection. Though with the what Carly told me you two came close to getting hurt."

"Rach can we not talk about this please." She requested

"..." Ratchet sighed at how the child shut down and mentally hit himself for bringing it up. Even though it happened eleven years ago it was possibly still fresh in her mind, that of if it was mentioned she would get filled with complete dread at the loss of her father.

The bots delivered the children back home with WheelJack following BumbleBee because Raf fell asleep on the way to his house so Ava was going to make it look like she drove him home. After dropping off Raf, Bee dropped Ava off at the corner WheelJack was and then WheelJack dropped off Ava. (The two oldest alternating between who would do that so they would not get too suspicious.)

When WheelJack returned to the base he saw that Arcee was the one passing in the spot he was earlier that day.

"You doing alright Arcee?" He asked awkwardly

"Optimus is hiding something from us. I'm just not sure what though." She said

"What would Prime hide from us?" the wrecker questioned

"I'm not sure WheelJack, but why would he allow four children to learn on how to fight. I understand learning self-defense could be a good thing, but..."

"You're not sure if this is a good idea especially for our charges?" He offered with an understanding smile.

"The cons don't see them as that big of a threat. I'm worried that if they learn on how to fight.. they would become a bigger target for Megatron." Arcee said

"They are already targets Arcee, you even said that MECH does not care if it is human or Cybertronian they attack, so maybe that is why Optimus agreed. They may not be able to do much against a Con but against MECH... they could last enough to get away far enough to get ground bridged to base or back up to be bridged there." WheelJack said "I do not like it as much as you but they want to help and we can not stop them."

 **Somewhere in a hidden base**

"The time has come to move our plan forward." the leader of MECH said

"Sir, how would we get close to one. We have no idea where they are?"

"We might not but someone might...someone that has fallen for one of our own." the leader said "Get the stuff ready."

"Sir? What is the plan?" the soldier questioned

"Infiltration by manipulation." the man said looking at the pictures of Carly Witwicky and her daughter Ava Witwicky.

 **With Ava and WheelJack**

Ava returned from her class to find a strange car in WheelJack's spot in the driveway.

"Kid, whose car is that? Who is that?" he asked seeing a man coming out of his charge's house.

"I don't know WheelJack maybe her boyfriend. " Ava said as they parked at the street of her house. Ava released she never saw the face of the mysterious boyfriend her mother had. When the man was gone WheelJAck pulled into the driveway and Ava got out.

"Mom who was that?" she asked

"Nothing that you need to be of concern about. I'll let you know when you should." Carly said with a smile Ava has never seen before. Watching as she entered the house.

"That was weird." WheelJack said "What is with her."

"..." Ava could not answer, she felt weird, the man she was something was off. It was not because her mom was not beautiful no it was quite the opposite. Ava always admired her mom's beauty but was always too shy, to stand out like her friend Miko . She could not believe it, she knew her mom loved her father but why did she feel like this.

"Kid...Kid...Ava...Ava answer me or I'll get IronHide or even Ratchet." WheelJack said starting to get worried about his charge, and was about ready to contact the base.

Shaking her head she looked at her guardian and asked "You say something WheelJack?"

"Kid, you are scaring me? You spaced out are you alright?"

"...Yes...I think I am." she replied slowly and softly and then entered the house.

To say the wrecker was worried about his charge was an understatement. He was concerned about her, never has he seen her pause and space out before. Not till at least she saw her mom's possible boyfriend. _'Why was the kid acting like that?'_ he thought _'I better go and ask Ratchet or BumbleBee maybe Optimus would know what is going one with her.'_ When he was sure no one was watching he left the driveway and drove to the base, he had some questions and he wanted some answers and he was going to get some. He hoped.

*"Ava never did that before."* Bee Buzzed with surprise

"While she never did that when we knew her she could have picked it up or it could happen on some occasions. Remember, we knew her when she was little. It is probably just old memories of us with her and her father, and certain things set them off." Ratchet added

"It would be wise to keep an eye on her to see if this is a one time thing or not." Optimus said "She may not want to talk about it."

"What do you mean?" Bulkhead asked

"Ava may not want to talk about her mom dating again to us, but we should wait till she is ready to talk." Optimus said.

"Optimus if it is that simple we can just have her talk to Carly." Arcee said

"She might not want to talk to her mom right now...especially if it is about that man you two saw." IronHide said to WheelJack

"Let me talk to her." Elita offered "She might talk to me, and if not then Optimus could try."


	9. All according to plan

Elita found Ava sitting by herself reading a book, she slowly made her way to the human child thinking on how she would talk about this to her. Maybe she should have the prime talk to her about it. Then again she may be more comfortable talking to a girl about this. Sitting down next to her on the side of the cliff to the base she looked to see if Ava was aware of her presence or was just ignoring her.

"Ava?" She replied calmly as she looked to see if the girl had looked up from the book. When she did the red bot continued "Ava if you want to talk about what... about your mom and this guy I an all adios." She said with a smile.

"What is there to talk about. After eleven years mom has finally decided it was time to start dating. Maybe thinking it was time to get a male role model for me." the girl replied not looking up from her book.

"Is there something you want to say about it?"

"No Elita there is not."

"Alright. So what are you doing up here, and not down there with Miko and the others."

"I came up here to be alone and think." Was alll the girl said

"You want me to leave?" Elita asked

"..." receiving no reply Elita-one took it as the girl had enough talking and shut down like Ratchet warned her she might do. Getting up the red/pink female bot made her way slowly to enter the base incase Ava changed her mind about talking to her.

When she got back down she was immediately questioned by the medic and a few of the other bots.

"Well how did it go?" Ratchet asked

"She was not mad or acted like she was annoyed she answered the questions I asked her calmly, but she did not answer them how I was hopping she would." Elita said

"We will see how this plays out. WheelJack can ask her tomorrow how she feels about it." Optimus said

"What about you trying?" Arcee asked

"It would not be wise of me to jump in and handle a crisis like this with out the guardians tring first. Elita was more parent like then the rest of us so that is why she was allowed to go first." Optimus answered. "If it comes down to it, I will talk to Ava. But that is after WheelJack and IronHide have both seen if they could talk to her about it."

"As much as we appreciate it Optimus I believe it would be wiser if you stepped in." IronHide said as he approached with WheelJack.

"I have to agree with IronHide." WheelJack said "We have no idea what we are doing."

*"You did it last time WheelJack."* Bee pointed out *"Let's not forget how close she was to you IronHide."*

"Yeah, well that was a while ago and WheelJack here is her guardian now. Besides you were closer to her than I was." Hide said

"I did not know what I was doing all I did was tell her facts. That we will get her mom back and promised her a ride in the Jackhammer." WheelJack replied "I can't state facts here."

"Then you can give her the ride you promised her." Optimus said "Take one of the other bots if you feel like you need to. But if they have a charge check with them before you leave."

WheelJack nodded and thought about what he would do to get her to talk. Thinking back to what IronHide told him in the cavern he smiled when he got an idea. He knew where to take Ava and also he knew the exact people to take on the trip with him. He walked over to Optimus to see if it was alright. Once given permission from the Prime he headed off to prepare for the trip knowing that it would work in bringing the cheerful girl back out.

Telling the other bot that was going on the trip and fixing up the Jackhammer to accustom the other riders and having the ship be able to hide the seats when necessary and have them out when needed. He wanted to make sure it was alright with Ava's mom about doing this for her daughter, but then decided against it because he did not want to go into details about why Ava was like this. He knew Carly trusted him and cared for her daughter but he felt that it was not his place to discuss the issue Ava had. It was his charges choice and place to discuss that with her mother. The bots did not know what to think but could not have all the people that WheelJack wanted to go on the trip with him. He knew all who Ava trusted and had a list and wanted to bring the ones on top of the list they included besides himself basically every bot on Team Prime that was there when he first came to Earth and IronHide. At the very top of the list was Ratchet, Bee, and Optimus, IronHide along with himself. The Autobots had to not only deal with Decepticons but also keeping the children safe from harm, and MECH. MECH was the biggest threat against the Cybertronians. It was a risk allowing the two bots to leave but it was allowed if and only if the guideline Ratchet had given him were fallowed. The most important one was not to be unreachable.

When Ava waited for her guardian to pick her up she read a journal of her father's to pass the time. She had her usual bag with her to not bring up suspicions with MECH if they find out that she was with the Autobots. WheelJack was running later than usual so she figured that he was avoiding MECH. When her phone rang she saw it was WheelJack and answered it.

"Jackie where are you?" she asked not hiding her worry

"In the garage. Ratchet teleported me there so it would look like 'your car' was parked in it and to avoid suspicions."he replied "Now, are you ready to go on the rid in the Jackhammer?"

"Of course Jackie." Ava replied with a smile even though he could not see her face at the moment.

"Look if you want to talk about what happened a few days ago..."

"Jackie like I told Elita there is nothing to talk about." She replied as she closed the front door and headed to the garage. upon entering it she glared at her guardian "I appreciate what you all are doing but what is there to talk about? So my mom is dating again, good for her. She deserves to be happy."

"You have been silent and keeping to yourself so that is why we are worried."

"WheelJack can we just head to base?" Ava asked with a sigh

Sighing in defeat he opened the door and Ava opened the garage door and hopped in and closed WheelJack's door. Her guardian then drove to the rondeview point for that day for the ground-bridge. When they got there they saw that Bulkhead and Miko were ready to go. WheelJack and Bulkhead had something planned that would get a smile to cross their charges faces.

"Hold on tight." WheelJack commanded and the girls held on to the human size seats in the Jackhammer that was recently added in. It took a few minutes but when the shaking of WheelJack's ship stopped They were met by a site that was breathe taking.

"A-Are we in Space?" Ava asked looking out of the Windshield of the Jackhammer

"Yes we are." WheelJack said "It was difficult to convince Prime to let me take you and Miko up here."

"Sweet." Miko replied with her usual emphasis on the word.

Both girls walked over to their guardians and stood by them as they caught a glance of the earth. They were silent for awhile before Bulkhead broke the silence.

"So...Ava... is everything...well...you have not been acting like yourself and..."

"Was I only brought up here so I would spill how you think I feel about this. So my mom has a new boyfriend. So she did not even tell me about him. So what." She said without any tears shocking both bots. Ava was usually the emotional one out of the children though she was getting better at hiding her emotions but at times the best she could do was delie the inevitable.

"We were just wondering if you were alright and besides it was not the only reason. I promised you a ride in the Jackhammer." WheelJack said

Seeing that they were worried and she felt that they had the right to know sighing she said "It is not because my mom did not tell me that she was dating again or the fact that she is dating again. I just felt something strange where I saw him. Like a chill went up my spine and a grave feeling flowed through me." Ava looked at the others and sighed "It makes no sense, ... I don't really know how to describe the feeling besides the word dread."

The three nodded and Bulkhead offered "Maybe you're nervous about him finding out about us bots. You could be nervous about that."

"Maybe." Ava said looking down.

"Well so what do you want to see?" WheelJack questioned "We could see any planet here."

Ava smiled at how her guardian was acting, sure he was tough but he was very kind when he needed to be and for that Ava was extremely great-full. Looking at the space in front of her she thought of what she wanted to see. As much as she liked space she never thought of what she wanted to see in space besides space. Quickly she made a list in her mind of all she wanted to see and brought it down to her final three and made sure that it would not wast energon. Knowing that they were low on it and wanted to make sure there was enough for emergencies. They hid it well, they were nervous every time that they went out into battle. Not knowing if they had enough energon to replace the mount they lost if it was dangerously low. She and the others often talked about going to look for mines by themselves to get some for the Autobots. But it was as if they always sensed their plans because almost every time they were getting ready to leave they would be stopped by one of them. Mainly Optimus or Ratchet.

"Surprise me." Ava said

WheelJack smiled and took his ship out away from the orbit of the Earth.

"WheelJack where are we going?" Miko asked

Still smiling the wrecker replied "You'll see."

It took about a few hours to get there and they were not disappointed. Right in front of them was a planet with tons of rings around it and different colors that looked nice together. (In Ava's opinion)

"Wow." both girls said as they gawked at the planet

"I thought You would have brought us to Mars or the moon but Saturn?" She pointed out though it sounded like a question when she ended it.

"Surprise."WheelJack said with a small laugh know how much you like space so I thought I would bring you here. The beauty of space."

Ava and Miko laughed at how silly Jackie was being. Even though that was Bulkhead's nickname for him WheelJack did not even care when Ava started to call him that.

On the way home the two Autobot wreckers saw that their human charges were trying to keep wake. Were they really gone that long or was it just that their excitement kept them up and now that it was gone they were tired. The two girls were already buckled up and sitting in their chairs nodding in and out of consciousness. It took a few hours but when they arrived back at the base their girls were sleeping and they saw that it was late at night. Then looked at each other nervously hoping that they had gotten back and could get them back home without breaking curfew, for the girls.

When the bots came into the base carrying the girls they noticed Carly was waiting for them to get back. "I figured that they would be with you. Around eight I called Miko's host parents and said that Miko wanted to spend the night and they allowed her to. so they can spend the night here." She said "I brought some stuff over that both girls would need, for tonight."

"I'll bridge them to your house tomorrow morning to not arouse suspicions, from MECH." Ratchet said as he bridged Carly back home. Both girls were laid on the couch and covered up. "You had to take them to the outer reaches of their solar system. If Carly was not one of the parents that knows about the Autobots she would have known something was up."

"The Jackhammer was fast Ava told me it would have taken years to reach that planet that we went to and years to get back. So in just a day to get there and back does not seem like a lot. Besides didn't her father go with out contact with his parents for days when he was with you?" WheelJack brought up

"What planet did you take them to see?" Arcee asked

"Ava called it Saturn." Bulkhead replied

*"That is closer than we thought you took them. But that still is farther than we would have liked you to take them WheelJack."* BumbleBee said

"While I appreciate you wanting to do something nice for your charge. I can not condone something like that again, next time stay close to the Earth." Optimus said

"Oh and about what was wrong with Ava, she has been having grave feelings round her moms new boyfriend. She could be nervous that he might figure out about us." WheelJack said "What do you think?"

"Hmm. we will have to look into it. We must take the upmost causation " The Prime said looking at Miko and the Witwicky child.

 **In a hidden bunker**

"Sir what shall we do now?" a soldier said "They still suspect nothing but the daughter is probably catching on"

"The daughter is getting suspicious, she seems to be always out and there was no trace of her around town today. It seems as if we found our transformer we are going to take." he said looking at the picture of Carly's daughter sitting on the hood of her car smiling, mirroring the picture of Ava's father on his car.

"Would that be wise, Sir?"

"Yes, that car would be a perfect target. She has a transformer as a car whether she knows it or not. I will take that car. I will have a transformer no matter what we have to do. That girl or any of the other autobots humans would not get in the way this time." the leader said "Time to move forward with the plan."


	10. Gone Missing

Laughter could be heard echoing through the rooms of the Autobot base. The children had brought over their skates and were currently playing tag with Bumblebee. They moved to another big room in the base so they would not run into anyone. When the doors opened up Ava ran head first into the bots leg.

Looking up she smiled and said "Hi Optimus. What brings you here?"

"I am merely checking on how your game is going." the prime replied as he helped the girl up.

"Thanks."

*"We are fine Optimus. Is there any trouble, missions that we need to go on?"* BumbleBee asked

"No, Decepticon activity or energon caves." Optimus said "I am just checking on the children."

Bee nodded his head and waited for the children to be ready to start the game all over again.

It put a smile on all the bot's face to see the human children playing and having fun despite the fact that they were in the middle of a war. It brought back the memories of when Ava was little. Back then she was blissfully ignorant of the war and always got everyone to smile. The human sparkling, as Ratchet called her, would run up to any bot she knew that was on their side would run up screaming their name and gave them a hug on their leg. Though the twins found it hard to not tease her about running into Optimus' leg all the time. It seemed as if he was the only bot it happened to. Now that she was older it did not happen as much.

Optimus was glad to see that the youngest of his Autobots was having fun with the human children, or with any of the bots for that matter. Bee already lost a lot because of this war, not yo mention the human girl standing in front of him. Bee did not need to be in this war and neither did the human children, to Optimus it seemed as if fate had other plans.

Days past and MECH has been halting there searches for the Autobots much to their surprise. The kids always had a close eye on the look out for the agents to see if they would try a surprise attack, knowing that they knew that the Autobots cared for the children and would take one of the hostage.

"I still think it is a trap." Ava said

"What makes you say that?" Jack questioned the brunet's logic

"Can't you accept some good fortune once in a while?" Miko asked

"Yes I can. Though this is different, like I said before it's just going to be a trap. One with out using us as bait."

"How can you be so sure?" Rafae asked

"It is what I would have done." She said like it was obvious "Making your enemy's think that you have backed off and wait for them to let their guard down and grab the one that is alone or would be an easy target."

"Just because you would do it like that does not mean that MECH would do the same" Jack said

"They are putting that plan together as we speak. Right now they are probably looking and watching to see who would be the best target. One who no one would bat an eye if they do not show up a lot and that usually would be on their own."

"Sounds like a deception plan." Raf replied

"Yea, it does. Doesn't it?" Ava agreed "But that is how MECH thinks and if we are to stop them one day we have to try to be one step ahead and think like they do, bu not act like they act."

"What do you mean?"

"Well we think like they would while we look for them and are on the watch for them. But when we are not we can be like our Autobot friends." the brunette replied "that and we act like how we normally act and not like MECH. They see all of them as monsters and they are the heros. But it is not like that at all they are the villains and the Autobots are the heros."

"Sounds like you have it all figured out." Jack said with a smirk

"Not everything." Ava blushed "Just how to hopefully track MECH or anticipate an attack."

When they looked up they saw their guardians waiting for them and walked over to their respected Autobot as they looked for any sign of the human decepticons. On their way to the rondeview point to ground bridge them to the base they children thought about what they discussed and realized that they had to keep a watch on their guardians like they were protecting them. Sighing Ava looked out the window of the passenger seat things were a lot more complicated then they were when she was first with the Autobots granted that she was a young child or a sparkling as Ratchet or any other Autobot around the old base affectionately called her. She figured it might have been complicated for the cybertronian Autobots not the humans who were part of the Autobots team.

As exited they ground-bridge they saw the 'bots were working on finding Decepticons and MECH so the kids got to work on their plans on finding more energon for the Autobots. They figured that they had to help out too and not just play video games all the time. So they plotted points on maps and worked on the conspiracy websites looking for pictures that they would have to take down, mostly because it was one of the Autobots or something to do with Cybertron. If it was trending then Ava worked her magic and posted that it was just a small robot that was enlarged with a close up, copied and pasted on a background and blurred a little to look believable an that anyone with computers could do it. Though not a lot of pictures were trending. It was mostly videos so Ava used her account to post a video reviewing the clips, and would criticize it but complement the CGI effects. After a few videos she was getting looks from Optimus because of her negativity about some of the videos.

"... the video was well put together and executed and I almost thought it was real, but sadly after enough views I saw that it was nothing more than some good CGI and well planed out effects and voice acting. I congratulate them on it but have to say that this video is an absolute fake. Though it was entertaining I would recommend that the person wold did the effects and edited it get a job at a production for movies because it was almost too believe able." Ava said into her head set "You would have fooled me, you almost fooled me. But...this...Look I know I am alway negative about these things but if you actually believe you found a video of real aliens then sent it too me. All you have given me is CGI animated or kids in costumes." Ava signed "Most of you say I'm not a believer and I am, I just need more proof then blurry videos or CGI animated films." SHe signed off ad worked one editing her video.

"Why are you being negative to the activity of their work and yet complementing their work on it when they did no work to create the films?" Optimus asked

"They edited the film and fixed it to their liking. Editing stuff out and in to make it as clear as they could without distorting the film. I try to keep it as if they just edited it and made it into a small movie. If you give them too praise even if they say they did not do a lot to the l film people would still believe that they have a gift." Ava explained

"I do not understand."

"Well think of it as...as protecting the secoret. If thousands of people have already seen it. It can be impossible to delete it from the internet with all of the sharing the video has gotten. But by Reviewing it and... claiming that it is impossible for that to happen then it people might take another look and be sceptical about it. It works well when I say that I was there but I cannot say that for everything." Ava explained

"I see." The prime said "And you use negativity why. Why not just use positivity." Ava sighed

Jack came to her rescue "If she uses positive remarks people would think that it is true. Even though it is true. We want to prevent people from panicking. or fining out that you guys are really aliens"

"I see" Optimus nodded "Why would humans panic if we mean them no harm. Surly by our symbols they would realize that we mean them no harm."

"Not every one thinks that way. Most people see aliens and think big threat, run away." Miko said from behind Ava.

"That is the reason for hiding our true identities, we know the humans will run in fear of us. I am referring to the ones that have seen both Decepticons and Autots." Optimus said "Do they not know we mean them no harm, they have seen us protect them."

"Some might. But I can not speak for every one. Not all humans are like us." Raf said "Or Ava's dad"

"Hey, why does my dad have to be singled out." Ava said crossing her arms

"Well he did know the Autobots before any of us did." Jack said

"I know that, but it does not explain why he needed to be singled out.

"Ava, Sam knew us when we first arrived on Earth." Ratchet added

When the others arrived back at the base it was time for the kids to return home. So they headed out with their guardians. Ava was the last to leave considering that both WheelJack and IronHide were not there yet. All day she had a nagging feeling in her gut that something bad was going to happen. Though it was not as bad as it was in the morning than it was now. Ava just sat there waiting for them to get to the base. When the others arrived back and her guardians were not back yet she started to get worried. When they finally came back they saw the reason why they were late, WheelJack and IronHide were toting energon that was near by.

"Sorry we are late but we found an energon cave on our way back and started to collect as much as we could before the Decepticons find it." IronHide said

"Come on Tiny lets get you home." WheelJack said. When Ava gave him a glare he smirked "Ok I'll come up with something better."

Ava hopped into the car and her guardian drove her home. "Are you trying to find a nickname that is unique or a spin off of Hide's?"

"..." WheelJack sighed "Kid I'm trying to think of one beside little wrecker. I want the name to mean something like it does with Hide and you."

"I know Jackie but, well, do you want me to think on a new one for you instead of the one Bulkhead calls you?"

"No, and what was wrong with Tiny?"

"According to my dad's journals Optimus referred to as Tiny one." Ava replied

"So...how about... Sport?"

Ava shrugged her shoulders she did like it but "Jackie it sounds like...well a father and son."

"Kid I know what the normal use of the word is for but since we are partners in this fight and I want you to be able to tell it is me if the Decepticons have another bot that can turn into any of us, or if MECH creates a new autobot that they can control, and trying to manipulate the others."

"I understand why you are trying to find a nickname for me Jackie but..."

"Kid I'll see you tomorrow." WheelJack said.

Ava watched as her guardian drove away. She had a feeling it was because of the bond that she had with IronHide that WheelJack wanted to give her a nickname. Out of all of the Autobots Hide was the only one to give her a permanent nickname. Optimus called her tiny one till she was about four. After that he referred to her as Ava, or little Ava if he was trying to cheer her up. Shaking her head she walked into her house.

"Sir target is alone, to we go."

"No, wait till the two are with each other. We need a messenger to tell the other transformers what happened." The man said

"Sir, I thought you wanted to strike when the target is alone." the man said

"Change of plans. What we need is to make sure they get the message, and the only way to do that is to leave a messenger."

"Is that...are you sure?"

"Tomorrow we strike. They would be the last ones to return to their base. They would be isolated, from the others. We will make sure no contact between them and the other transformers." the man said

In the morning Ava was waiting for WheelJack to come and pick her up, he called ahead and said he would be a little late so she did not have to catch a ride with BumbleBee, who passes her house since Raf and her live close by when she saw the familiar car of her guardian she smiled and ran to him. Wanting to get to the base as fast as possible. The feeling of dread that lumed over her was stronger today for some reason.

"You okay...crazy."

Ava laughed "Crazy huh?"

WheelJack snickered "I could call you Grace."

"We both know I'm not graceful." she laughed "What happened to Sport?"

"Figured I would come back to it if there was not a nickname that suited you." Jackie retorted "Thought I think Ratchet would get upset."

"Probably."

The car ride was silent till they reached the desert. Ava was looking for MECH as WheelJack drove, it was part of the idea the kids came up with so they could help out a little more around the base and with the Autobots. They were always looking out for them so watching their back was the least they could do. When something hit them Ava lunged forward and hit the dash board with her hands as she braced for the impacted.

"AVA GET OUT NOW!"WheelJack yelled opening the door.

Ava jumped out and tuck and rolled into the desert off the road. Landing flat on the ground she turned around to see her guardian transform and stand ready to fight the con that dared to attack them. Black vehicle pulled up and started to come after the two of them. Imately they knew who they were. MECH was after them. Jumping up Ava fought as hard as she could to keep them off of both her and WheelJack. Though she was fairing a little well with her yellow belt level fighting static, she was still no match for highly trained agents. Eventually she failed and was held down as they went after her guardian. Struggling and fighting she tried to get away but the men were stronger then she was.

"WHEELJACK!" She screamed as she tried to escape from the men that kept her away from the men that kept her from her Autobot friend/guardian. She was hit on the back of her head causing her to pass out and fall to the ground.

When she woke up she was looking up at a ceiling of the familiar Autobot base. Sitting up slowly she looked around with a hand on her head and her eyes half way closed. She felt bandages on her head with her hand, and figured someone wrapped her wound for her

"Ava? what happened? We found you passed out in the middle of the desert."

Looking around she started to tear up. Seeing no evidence that her guardian was at the base.

"Ava what happened tho WheelJack?" Bulkhead asked

Looking down her shoulders shook as she started to cry, not wanting to break the news to the only bot that was like a brother to her guardian. Ratchet and Optimus shared a look knowing that Bulkhead would not like what the girl had to say. But she needed to calm down.

"Ava, tellus what happened." Ratchet demanded lightly using a tone her rarely uses.

"MECH." Ava sobbed "...They took him." then hugged herself and started to dry all over again, feeling like she just let them all down. Jack, Rafael, and Miko joined together and gave her a hug. Trying to comfort the girl, and hoping that they could get to the wrecker before anything bad happens to him.

When everyone but Ava left Ratchet saw her do something odd to him. She moved her hand in the shape of a cross, first touching her head then heart fallowed by both shoulders, lastly she folded her hands and looked to the ground.


	11. corrupted boyfriend

"What was that?" the medic asked

"What was what?" the girl questioned back.

"What you did with you hand. That motion you did. I have seen you do it before." Ratchet replied "that motion thing you did before you bowed your head."

Ava tilted her head in thought before realizing what Ratchet was talking about. "OH you mean this?" She asked as she redid the motion.

"Yes that." he confirmed

"You have your religion I have mine." She simply put

"Only on Earth people have a religion that makes you do motions." Ratchet grumbled

"It is optional and not everyone has my religion." Ava announced "Can we please talk about something else, like how are we going to get WheelJack back from MECH or how we're going to find him."

With the Decepticons

Megatron walked into the bridge of the warship, and stopped behind the Decepticon he was looking for. The leader watched for a minute at what the Con was working on before making his presence known.

"Soundwave, tell me if the rumors are true. That the pathetic team of humans have captured an Autobot. The Autobot that guards that boy Witwicky's brat." Megatron demanded

Soundwave said nothing and continued to type on his console. After a few minutes of waiting, the silent decepticon pulled up footage that they got when Laserbeak few around looking for energon caves.

"So, Prime's human consultant's daughter is without a guardian?" StarScream asked

Soundwave shook his head and then brought up three files of Autobots. Then played recordings of different bots saying those names "IronHide" WheelJack's voice said "Elita and Chroma" Arcee's voice said from Soundwaves speakers.

"Very true Soundwave, She will be protected by another bots that they trust. No question about it that they are currently looking for MECH's base." Megatron nodded "Excellent work, as usual Soundwave. Keep an eye on the child, she may be of use to us soon."

"What ever for Lord Megatron?" Starscream questioned

Ignoring his second in command he called for the medic to the bridge

"You wanted to see me?" The red sports car asked

"Knockout," Megatron replied "Witch one of my decepticons do you think would make a convincing guardian?"

"Why do you ask my liege?"

"If Prime loses his memories again, there is no doubt that one of the Autobots would try to get him back, not only that but one of those human children would follow."

"For what?" Starscream's voice sounded from Soundwave's speakers

If it was any other bot that asked that he would have either hit them or glared at them, but since it was Soundwave Megatron smiled and replied "To fool him again we would require the human to play along and to give Optimus a reason to keep busy.

"It all depends on the human that follows." Knockout replied honestly

"True...Each human does require a different bot." Starscream said

"I also require you to create a device for me." Megatron said

With the Autobots

Optimus was walking through the base, the kids were going to be coming over later on to spend the night. He wanted to make sure that the room they choice would be ready for them to set up camp. Normal they would be sleeping where the couch is but they wanted to go camping and none of the bots could be spared. IronHide wanted to go with the children and was assigned to go, but he had to take a team for another space exposition. Though this one would not take as long as their last one. It still would leave them with very few bots for a while, and with IronHide gone; BumbleBee stepped up and took over on

guarding Ava till they found WheelJack.

He had spoken to Carly earlier to talk to her about Ava and the new arrangements till either Ironhide got back or they found WheelJack. Right now Ratchet is trying to track WheelJack through his spark signature. So far it was not working well. They did not like it that one of their own was trapped by MECH. After what happened to Breakdown when they took him to their base was not enough, then what happened to BumbleBee was something to put them on edge.

*"Did you find him yet?"* BumbleBee asked as the bots got ready to leave to pick up the children

"Not yet Bumblebee, MECH seems to have gotten better at hiding spark signatures, I know that since they do not have our technology so they could not have gotten far. So they have to be around Jasper or in the desert somewhere. _I JUST_ need to

pinpoint it." Ratchet sighed

*"You'll find him Ratchet."* Bee beeped *"I know you will."*

Turning around from the computer Ratchet smiled at BumbleBee, "Thank you BumbleBee. _GO_ and pick up the people you need to. Rafael and Ava would be waiting."

When BumbleBee left Ratchet sighed and went back to trying to find WheelJack. The twins wandered in and saw that Ratchet was upset. Now the twins might be mischievous but they were caring when they needed to be.

"Hey Rach what's wrong?" Skids asked softly

The medic turned around and glared at the two then softened when he saw that they were looking sincer.

"Well I have to find WheelJack While a good portion of our team is in space following a distress signal from an autobot ship. MECH is becoming relentless and WheelJack has been missing for almost a full day Optimus has followed the trail that MECH left and hopefully will be able to find him. Who knows what MECH has planned for WheelJack."

"Whoa Rachet chill. We know," Mudflap said "But you need to relax, we will find him."

Ratchet smiled at the twins "Why can't you be like that all the time?" he said

"Then these monuments would not mean as much." they said and walked away.

Shaking his head the medic took a deep breath and went back to work "Optimus did you find anything?"

Later on that day

Miko was sitting down with Rafael as they tried to help Ratchet find the missing wrecker, Ava could not make it because she had work along with Jack. no one asked any questions as to why she was riding in with Jack. Arcee knew that Jack was worried that his crush Sierra would see her riding with him and immediately assume that Ava was his girlfriend like she did when Arcee came to pick him up for his important mission.

"Hey Ratchet, do you think we will find WheelJack." Raf asked

"..." Ratchet did not answer

"Ratchet!" Miko yelled catching the media's attention "We will find WheelJack right?"

"I do not doubt we will find WheelJack. The question that resides is in what STATE do we find him in." The medic replied

"When Bulkhead and Breakdown were attacked Breakdown lost an optic and they gained lots of information about Cybertronians. They took BumbleBee's T-cog and then once he got it back took StarScream's then used it to make a counterfeit Optimus. Primus only knows what they are doing to him."

Carly was sitting down at a table with her boyfriend at a cafe. The man was smirking and nodding along to what Carly was saying

"So Carly, When would I be able to meet this daughter of yours." he asked with a smile.

"Soon." Carly said

The man nodded and patted his pocket, looking out to the black tinted car he said "Can't wait, I have a few things I'm sure she is going to want to know."

"Thank you and have a nice day." Ava replied with a smile.

Jack was watching her as he worked, he was worried. Ava was hiding ow distraught she was well. Then again she was probably trying her best to hold it together because the problem was Autobot related and they have to keep the secoret that they are there.

"Ava? are you alright?" Jack asked

"..." Ava said nothing, as she stopped what she was doing and lightly sighed a frown etched it's way onto her face, but as soon as someone pulled up the fake smile was placed back on. She handed them their food and collected the money. The day was slow and it passed by even slower.

"Ava you can trust me. What's wrong. It...it's not like you to keep your emotions bottled up."

The brunette shoved her way passed Jack and moved to go and clock out for the day.

"You do not need to fight this alone, we are here for you." Jack said softly not wanting the few others there to know what they were talking about. She clocked out and headed outside with Jack following her, to wait for Arcee.

"Jack." Ava said softly voided of any emotion shocking the raven haired boy.

"Um...yes?"

"We do things to keep the secoret, whatever it takes. Keeping your emotions in check is part of that. Yes I am emotional about it. It is killing me that I have no idea where he is or what his health is like but I am trying to think positive.

I trust Ratchet and the others. Jackie is tought he will make it through and so will I."

Jack started to get mad "And you think I need to as well. Pretend that one of our friends is not trapped somewhere."

"S...S-Stopp." she said with tears in her eyes.

Arcee pulled up as quickly as she could to make it look like they were just talking.

"Arcee is here." She mumbled and almost ran over to the female Autobot.

When they were at the base the conversation they were having got louder.

"You can not pretend that this is not happening!" Jack yelled "Everyone is worried about you. Your not acting like the Ava we all know. Please let us help you. You can talk to anyone of.."

SHUT UP!" she screamed

Optimus was walking into the base when Ava yelled

"Stop. DO YOU THINK I DON'T KNOW THAT! I KNOW THAT. MY GUARDIAN AND BEST FRIEND IS MISSING. HE IS PRACTICALLY BULKHEAD'S BROTHER AND NO ONE IS INTERROGATING HIM ABOUT HIS EMOTIONS." Tears started to fall from her face "I KNOW WHAT IS GoINg oN I WoULd appRECiATE it if you wOULD STOP TeLLing mE WhAt You thINK I fEEl."

She then ran off as she cried running through the halls of the base, leaving everyone frozen in shock staring at the hall she ran down.

Miko looked at Jack and said "Way to be a jerk, dude."


	12. A threat of a life

Jack felt horrible. All he wanted to do was get the most emotional human on the Autobot team to tell the others what was going on and to let her know that everyone was there for her and knew what she might be feeling. But he just made things worse. She was handling things pretty well, and just like that he ruined it.

"It seems as though we must speed the space exposition." Optimus said after a while of thought "Ava has done well to hide her emotions in public. She may need IronHide's comfort at the given time."

"You heard every word didn't you?" Jack asked

Optimus nodded his head

Miko leaned over and stage whispered "Dude you uin SO much trouble."

"Bee and I can't find Ava." Raf said running up to the group.

"Spread out. She could not have gotten far, or out of the base without us knowing." Arcee said

As everyone ran to look for her in panic, Optimus calmly walked down the hall and made his way to one place where he had a feeling Ava would be. As he moved through the halls metal walls turned into cave walls. This was their ship yard, there was a opening for the larger ship, that would open. The large ship that was there earlier was no longer there, so he looked around figuring that the Witwicky child would be somewhere in the shipyard. Looking around where IronHide's ship would be he did not find the girl, but he did hear crying and followed the sound.

With Carly

"Carly, when will I meet your daughter? We have been dating for three months and I have not once met her. Have you told her about us?" he asked

Carly wiped her mouth slowly in thought, finally answered "No...I haven't. I do not know how she will react. How she will take the news, she is very sensitive to her emotions, I need to take it slow. How about when she gets home I'll talk to her about it."

"Carly...just tell her soon. She deserves to know." He said

Looking down she nodded and replied "I will."

"Care to tell me why you and Ava were fighting?" Arcee asked

"I don't know. She was just acting like nothing happened, but I could tell she was upset about it just...I did not know how upset she was." Jack replied "She kept saying stuff you would say, about keeping emotions in check."

"Jack, you're forgetting, she cannot show that she is upset that WheelJack is missing, people will ask. And do you really think she can tell others what happened?"

"No...Not really," he sighed looking down

"Don't beat yourself up, you were just trying to help. A bit too much right now, but eventually she might see you were trying to help out."

Jack looked down in complete misery at how he might have made Ava feel.

Miko was walking with Bulkhead behind her. They were searching the rooms and the place where she would normally find Ava when she was upset or wanted to be alone. She would often walk away from the group and hide out till she was calmed down or wanted to be found. Miko sighed Ava was good at hiding when she wanted to be so they were never going to find her. That is what got her panicking even more. She already knew that Bulkhead was panicking a little because she could get hurt

in the base.

"Miko...I think we should turn around. The wall is right there and there is nothing that she could use to hide."

"Bulk." Miko wined "We need to find Ava."

"I know Miko." Bulkhead replied "At least she is still in the base. There are two ways out and I believe that one of the others have looked there. We can check when we regroup."

"Can we just finish this hallway?"

"Sure Miko. But we have to regroup after this. The others need to know. We have searched this half of the base."

She nodded and they finished the hall and headed to the base's main room.

Bumblebee and Raf were looking for Ava in the bedrooms (Except for Arcee's and Optimus') and the two spare rooms that they usually spend time and is where they found Ava the few times she disappeared.(Scared the twins when she spoke from reading her book sitting in one of the big vent openings) The boys were searching, but Bee was a little more frantic than Rafael was.

Bumblebee whirred and beeped as he searched in panic

"I'm sure we will find her Bee. Calm down or you would not be able to think straight," Rafael said "She is safe. Jack just upset her a little. Can't be mad at him though Bee, he was just trying to help. With how tough she has been the past few days we kinda forgot how sensitive she could be with some of her emotions."

"I know; I know." Bee beeped "I'm not mad. I'm worried."

Optimus walked to where Ava was crying, or rather finishing up crying. She was sitting in the JackHammer so it was kinda difficult for the Prime to enter the ship being the tallest out of the Autobots and the ship was. He knew Ava was learning to fly the ship from WheelJack for emergencies and although he thought it was unnecessary because she could just put in the coordinates and then hit the autopilot. The Prime realized that the Autopilot could get damaged and then they would be in trouble till help arrives so he allowed it. After all flying a Cybertronian ship was mostly just hitting the right button, well WheelJacks ship was at least.

Optimus Prime found the child in the passenger seat curled up with her head resting on her arms.

"Ava? What is wrong little one?" he asked

"Huh?" She grounded sounding like she was close to have fallen asleep "Oh hi, Optimus" She replied once seeing the Prime. After relizing he asked her a question she answered "I'm fine."

"I can tell with utmost certainty that you are not fine. Tell me what seems to be troubling you." Optimus countered

After a bit of talking to the Prime Ava eventualy was convinced to come out of hiding with Optimus. She was riding on his shoulder as he walked back to the center of their base/home. Once the others noticed that their leader had found Ava and where she was they mentally kicked themselves for panicking and not taking the time to think of where she could be hidden.

"So how are you doing Squirt?" IronHide asked from the screen he was on.

"Fine...I guess." She replied

"You need me to come back?"

"..."

"Ava? do you need me to come back." IronHide asked again

The other Bots knew that if IronHide referred to Ava with her name it must be serious.

"You do not have to...keep searching for other Autobots."

"We are coming home. If they get close to Earth we will contact them." IronHide said firmly.

When she was brought home by BumbleBee she noticed that there was another ar in the driveway. Ava entered the house only to meet Carly at the door.

"Mom?" She asked "What's going on?"

"Ava, sweety, I would like you to meet my boyfriend. I know that maybe now...with..."

"I know mom, it's fine." SHe replied and followed Carly into the kitchen

"So I finally get to meet the famous Ava." The man said "it is nice to finally meet you."

Ava nodded still not knowing his name

"This is Edward." She said

Ava nodded and after a few minutes of awkwardness she said she was headed to her room.

When Edward was leaving Ava was waiting for Miko and Bulkhead to pick her up for a sleepover at the base, when Carly went inside he dropped the paper and left. Ava noticed a paper on the ground, and picked it up, she saw it had her name on it and opened the envelope that was not even sealed

 _"Meet me at the desert in fifteen minutes, we have something to discuss." the note said_

Ava decided to talk to Bulkhead to see if she should go. When the former wrecker got there as they were driving away she read the note again and asked what she should do. Bulk even called the base to see if they had any ideas. In the end she was told she should meet up with him and that other Autobots would be ready to help out if needed to.

When they got there Ava jumped out and walked out to wait for Edward. When he finally came she saw black vans that looked like MECH's vehicles. She was about to run when a one of the soldiers grabbed her by the arm and dragged her to where the vehicles were.

"Hello again Ava Witwicky." Edward said " Do you know anything about alien?"

"Ah...only from what I've seen in movies." She lied

"Oh really then what is this?" he asked her and she saw a live footage of her guardian

"WHEELJACK!" she cried out, she was glad that he seemed functional and looked only dented up, when e moved and groaned was confirmation that he was still alive and well. She was even more relieved when he opened his optics to show that he still had both of them and they were functioning.

"Oh, so you do know him?" the man smiled

"Why are you doing this let WheelJack go." she demanded

"Not likely, I am not letting a transformer go, unless you have something to trade for it."

"L-Like information? she asked

"Precisely, or a transformer for a transformer." he countered

"I'm just a human, how will I be able to convince one to even give themselves up." She said

"That is if I could find them."

"I know that you know where the base to the Autobot transformer is. I also know that you have ties to them." Edward said "Either give me what I want or...something bad will happen to this one." he said something into his communication device, and electricity attacked WheelJack from somewhere off screen. She could hear him grunt in pain.

"I'll give you a few days to decide, but you better think fast. They are getting antsy."

"Why?" She asked as tears slowly fell from her eyes as she watch them attempted to torture her guardian. SHe had seen some of a Decepticon interrogation so, she knew this was not the worst condition he was in, or was ever in. But she knew that could change if they wanted to.

"Because, I will play fair. give you a chance to get back the transformer that is your car."

"No...That is...not what I m-meant." Ava replied the tears moving faster from her eyes. "I m-meant why are you doing this. What have they done... to you to make you attack them. Why would you do this?... What do you have to gain... from all of this?"

"Revenge." he said without turning around

"W-What...why?" she was trying to hold back her sobs

Edward turned and yelled "MY NAME IS EDWARD BISHOP! YOUR TRANSFORMER FRIENDS MURDERED MY BROTHER!"

Ava shook her head "They Autobots would never." She cried "Who was your brother?"

"The old leader of MECH, Silas." he yelled


	13. Autobot rescue

"W-Who?" Ava asked "W-What are you t-talking about?"

"MY BROTHER, SILAS," Edward yelled "As I said before he was the leader of MECH before I was, and your transformer friends killed him."

"N-No... they would never...NO!" Ava denied

"Oh, now I see it, they lied to you. Trying to gain sympathy from humans. But once you are in trouble, they won't come. Not if one of their own are in trouble."

"Their not the ones that lied." Ava spat in bitterness that the hidding Autobot did not even know she possessed or she did, "You are." After a while she added "They protect this planet, humanity."

Edward smiled he had her right where he wanted her. "Then what about all those soldiers that were lost?"

"This is a civil war between them, of course there would be casualties. They signed up for it. No one died the first time besides one Autobot. After that all other recruits were warned what was going to happen and what they were up against. They could have turned down if they wanted to but they stayed."

"Are you saying it was their own fault?"

"No, I'm saying they made a choice. Is it the fault of the soldier that comes back injured or worse? No, it is not." She said as she tried to hold back her tears, she had to remain strong.

"They will abandon you to save one of their own. They say that they will help out but they will never." Edward snapped "Where are they now? Not one time have I seen one of those transformers since I've been talking to you."

Ava rolled her eyes "More like yelling at me and trying to make me turn traitor." She said "Ever think that it is because they know I could be endangered, but they are respecting what I want and are standing by if I need assistants."

Edward grabbed Ava's arm and yanked her forward promoting a yelp of surprise and pain to come from the girl. That is when they finally saw Optimus and some of the other Autobots, that went on the space exposition with IronHide. "Optimus glad to see that you finally showed up." he said pulling out a gun and aiming it at the prime "I was beginning to think you would abandon this girl, she..."

Ava kicked his hand making the gun fall to the ground and ran as fast as she could to IronHide. Wrapping her arms around his leg she let all the tears out that she was trying to hold in.

"I see there is some fight in you." Edward sneered "Meet back here in three days. Either you trade information or you trade one of your transformer friends."

Optimus said before Ava could reply "Leave your weapons behind when you return, other wise Ava will not return."

"I make no promises about the weapons, you could attack us then."

"Then bring a few to make yourself feel safe, not to threaten, any human again."

"We will see." Edward said as he made a sign for the soldiers to drop their weapons and retreat.

Once MECH was gone IronHide went right to comforting Ava, back to the softy that he was when he was on the screen. He transformed and allowed Ava to hop in. Once in the complete safety of the Autobots she finally broke down.

WheelJack blinked his optics as he woke up for the second time that day, this time less weak or tired. He knew where he was, but he was surprised that MECH did not do anything to him yet. Perhaps they needed the mental outlook of a Cybertronian, instead of physical. Bad bot for the job in his opinion.

When he sat up he saw a man who did not cover his face like the others. He decided not to talk and waited to what he wanted.

The man smiled "Ah our transformer friend has awaken." the man said

'Transformer?' he thought 'He works for MECH, only they call us transformers. Any one else would call us aliens. The ones that know about us and are not part of our team that is.'

Edward smiled at him knowing how to get him to talk. "I know someone that will get you to talk"

"Who?" WheelJack asked surely they did not know who

"A little brunette girl," he said and whathed as WheelJack's optics widened.

"There are numerous brown haired girls on Earth," The wrecker said quickly "How would I know what girl you were talking about."

"She is a fighter," he said rubbing his hand "Kicked a gun right out of my hand."

"That a girl." he said smiling then realized that he just let it out that he knew her. "You do not have her, so you won't make me talk."

"How do you know we do not have her?"

"You would have already threatened her life if you had her and you did not."

"We have not yet gotten to where it would be necessary." Edward countered

"You're willing to sacrifice one of your species just to get one of the good guys to talk?" WheelJack asked skeptically

"If that's what it takes to save millions."

"From who the cons. They are not after all the humans only the small group they see interacting with us. We make sure that all humans are safe. Unlike you."

"From all you transforming aliens. It is all your fault, the deaths of millions of humans."

Raf and Ratchet were busy tracing the transmission that Edward showed Ava to get her to talk, they figured that MECh might have changed locations but there was still the possibility that he might still be there. This being Ava's first time dealing with MECH, they wanted to keep her hope up. She did not know that MECH did clean sweeps of their base locations once they felt like their base was compromised, or was compromised.

They found it surprising that Ava would do something like that. Her time with WheelJack and IronHide had changed her. She was no longer that shy girl, well not really shy anymore, and was tougher than they thought. When Ratchet looked over at her he expected to see her either a sobbing mess, or passing with worry. Instead she was creating a plan with Bee to scout out the area, when they found him, or at least the location where the feed was coming from. They were going to run it by Optimus when he returned from patrol.

It was true that the kids rarely helped the Autobots out on their missions. Mostly because they involved the Decepticons and not humans, though there were a few times (most of with they had no idea that they were coming) the children ran out and helped the Autobots out. When they returned they would usually get a lecture from Ratchet, Optimus would calmly tell them to stay out of the Decepticon battles.

The medic had a feeling that Ava would want to join on this crusade to get WheelJack back from MECH. If it was from Decepticons it would have been easier, Megatron pays little mind to the humans and StarScream is to arrogant to even give them any credit against him. Soundwave on the other hand while he knew that they could be a problem for them, he would never turn a gun against any human. Which made them believe that they could eventualy turn him to the Autobot side.

"Found him!" Rafael yelled making the others jump

The timing of Raf finding WheelJack and Optimus coming back to base lined up perfectly.

"Rafael, Ratchet put the coordinates into the ground bridge," Optimus said "Autobots roll out!"

Ava stood up tall and declared "I'm coming too."


	14. Problems arising

Ava sighed, when she said that she was coming she did not expect to be riding with Optimus. She expected to be riding with IronHide, or one of the other Autobots. It also surprised everyone else that the Prime would agree to the WitWicky child's demands, under the conditions that she stay by his side and follow all orders. She sighed as she entered the cabin of Optimus' vehicle mode with Agent Fowler.

"Ava since we are fighting MECH I want you be careful." Optimus said "You faced off against The deceptions before, but MECH is different."

"I know, the vest you asked Agent Fowler to bring for me proves it." She replied

"I know it may seem over the top, considering... who we are up against. They will not hesitate to hurt one of their own species." Optimus said "Agent Fowler, Do you think after this MECH would no longer operational?"

"Hard to say Prime." He replied " MECH specialized in leaving no evidence behind when they leave not only that but it is always quick. No telling what will happen when we storm the place, but why would they leave Ava behind, and not take her along with WheelJack. We know he is operational so it is information they want."

"That is a question logic can not answer. While it remains they sent Ava as a messanger that they have one of us. If they wanted information..."

"They would have taken me instead. Threatening my life in exchange for information instead of WheelJack." Ava interrupted as she was looking out of the cabin passenger window. Making Optimus wounder if it would have been better if Ava rode with Elita.

When they got half way there, Optimus let Ava and Agent Fowler out and transformed. "Ava go with Elita and stay close to her."

Ava nodded and walked close to the pinkish purplish bot and smiled lightly up at the motherly Autobot.

"The rest of us will supply a distraction so that Ava, Elita, Agent Fowler and Chromia can get in. Then get WheelJack out of there." Optimus finished

"So quick question Prime. Since you do not attack humans, how are you going to get there attention?"

"Simple." Ava said with a small laugh "Go through the front door."

The twins laughed at what Ava had said thinking it was a joke.

"Looks like we have volunteers." she added

"You were serious?" Mudflap questioned

Ava gave the twins a small smile and shrugged as if to say 'Why not.'

"I don't know..." Skids replied but another look at the girl and he could not resist. Her blue eyes shined like that of a sparklings.

"Fine!" they said and headed to the truck entrance to cause a distraction for MECH.

Agent Fowler stared in shock and asked "How did she..."

"Sparkling eyes." IronHide said with a small smile

"What?"

"Ava's eyes are blue, and a young child for us is called a sparkling. I don't even think she knows how she is getting them to listen to her." Arcee explained as she stared at the human girl that was near her sisters.

Ava was frowning and standing near Elita one and was getting more and more impatient as the seconds passed on, she hated the fact that WheelJack was so close, but did not know when she would see him again, or when the would be back in the field as a team again.

When they heard an explosion all of them turned, and saw that the twins were fighting... again whether it was on purpose or because they actually started a real fight, they did not know.

While MECH was distracted the small team made their way through the halls and looking for the room where they would have put WheelJack. Hearing something that sounded like swords hitting, steel walls. Running to Where the sound was coming from Ava took a risk and shouted "Jackie?"

The swiping stopped and Ava called out again "Kid? Kid is that you?"

"Jackie where are you?" Ava called running ahead of the others as she listened for his sarcastic sounding voice.

"Kid Get out of here!" the wrecker yelled "It is not safe for you to be here."

"What?" She asked

WheelJack yelled "GET OUT OF HERE AVA!"

Her breathing hitched and tears formed in her eyes "Wh-WheelJack...W-W-Why?"

The wrecker sighed "Ava I think it would be best to leave me here. I don't want you to get hurt. Please, leave me me here."

"NO!" Ava snapped "We are not leaving you!"

WheelJack sighed again, he knew there was no hope in reasoning with her and did not want to send her back to the others in a fit of tears. If MECH did not kill him he knew two bots that might.

"Kid, wait for the Autobots."

"I'm an Autobot, Jackie." Ava reminded him.

"I ment Bot Autobot." he said hoping to force her to go back to the base.

"Good thing she has us then." a female voice said

He did not recognise it so it must have been from the one that rarely spoke at the base.

"Chromia, how are we going to get the door open?" Ava asked then looked around "Where are the others?"

The red and black bot smiled "Elita and Fowler went the other way to look, I just contacted them and they will meet us out side." She approached the door and addressed the trapped wrecker. "You might want to step back." waiting a few seconds then blasted the door hinges and the door fell.

"Let's book." WheelJAck said as he picked up Ava and transformed with her in his arms then rolled down the window to show her safely in the passenger seat.

Chromia transformed and the two of them speed out of the room only to be trapped by the twins who were still fighting. "Kid ride with Elita on the way home. I need to talk with Optimus."

"Is everything wrong WheelJack?" the teenager asked

His full name, it is commonly known around the base that if your name is able to be shortened out then she will address you with that unless, she is calling because of a Decepticon attack or she was being serious, The only exception to the rule was Ratchet. Sure she could call him Ratch, but that was only reserved for when she was teasing him.(Which she did not do often).

"Everything is fine, I just need to talk to him I'm sure Elita or IronHide would love to take you home, or even one of the other guardians." he explained

"WheelJack." she tried again "Look if this is about..."

"Ava please." Jackie said "What I need to talk to Optimus about, will remain between him and me till it gets sorted out."

Ava frowned but did not argue any more with her guardian. Sighing she looked out the window till they reached the rendezvous point. The ground bridge teleported them the rest of the way. Mentioning that he needed to talk to Optimus the Prime nodded and then directed one of the other Autobot guardians to take Ava home.

"I'm sure everything will be fine Ava." Bulkhead said "Jackie will not leave."

"What do you mean leave." Ava panicked tears filling her eyes threatening to fall.

"Oh..No...Ava I did not mean it like that." Bulk tried again "I'm sure he cares for you a lot and wants you to be safe. That maybe why he is talking to Optimus to better your safety"

"So he's tossing me off onto another more experienced Guardian?" She asked her voice lased with hurt.

Bulkhead backtracked "Ava, relax. WheelJack will not abandon you. He is not like that. He most likely did not want to worry you with what happened while he was trapped with MECH. Or they are closing in a another one of the relics we are hunting. Don't jump to conclusions too quickly."

Sighing she nodded her head Bulkhead did have a point. WheelJack had told no one yet about what happened after he was captured by MECH. If he over heard anything that might cause problems for the other Autobots he would first tell Optimus. If it was nothing like that he would have told Bulkhead, and IronHide would be taking both Miko and her home.

WheelJack and Optimus walked through the base till they reached a room that they would not be disturbed by anyone (the Prime's office(Which is rarely used)) one the door was shut the wrecker sighed.

"What was it that you wanted to tell me, WheelJack?" Optimus questioned

"We have a big problem." WheelJack stated "the human children are in more danger than we realize."


	15. A near scare

Optimus told the other bots what WheelJack told him, they were to be on high alert at watching the four human children. According to what MECH was planning at least one of them would be a target to be used against the Autobots. He was also starting to think that maybe allowing Ava to tag along when they rescued WheelJack was a bad idea.

The Autobots spent the time they had till they found another reic, or energon trail to come up with ways to keep the four human children safe from MECH harm. Every plan they could think of had some kind of flaw in it. Ava had track and work, Miko had band practice, Jack had work, and Raf he tutored after school. Sure the kids could watch each other's backs but, they could not keep it up all the time.

Since Raf helped them outside they could watch over Ava and Raf at the same time, but Miko practiced inside so she was a littel harder to protect. Jack they knew his schedule and he usually calls if a shit ended early or they would call him.

Mudflap offered that they make three more of the badges that Ava had. That way they could be tracked by the symbol if needed to. Skidds thought of having a distress word for the human children to call them with or texted if anything were to happen along the lines of MECH. Ratchet was at least glad that the twins supplied them with plausible answers to the problem they had rather than fighting with each other or being annoying, but everyone had their days.

*"Optimus,"* BumbleBee asked, when he had Primes attention he continued *" I have an idea."*

######

Since it was a Saturday the kids did not have school they all met up at Jack's house thanks to Carly. Since she had the day off and Nurse Darby had to work, they thought it would be better if they talk about what was going on with the Autobots before Carly and Nurse Darby found out. How different the Autobots were acting the three days they picked them up. They were banned temporarily from the main room of the base and hung out in another section until it was time to go.

"What's been going on with everyone lately?" Miko asked "Yesterday Bulkhead refused to go dune bashing, and the twins flat out avoided us."

"Something their not telling us." Jack rationalized "Something they fear might frighten us, or could harm us."

"It has something todo with MECH I know that for sure." Ava said "Though I can not guess what."

"How do you know it is MECH and not the Cons?" Rafael questioned

"Because this strange behavior started after we liberated WheelJack from MECH's clutches." She replied "MECH wanted something and the way WheelJack looked when we rescued him has any consolation than that means they were after information. On what we do not know until the Autobots decide to tell us."

"So what do we do in the meantime?" Jack half demanded half asked

"Dude, what we normally do." Miko said as if it were obvious.

Raf shook his head "I don't think that is a good idea. Out in public it could work, but around the base, the Bots will surely know we know."

Ava agreed "We do not want to worry them any more then they are already. Maybe Jack or I can talk to Optimus about what is going on. He might answer our questions."

Jack looked surprised "Why would he. I know Primes tell the truth in all but what makes you think that he'd tell you or me...or even both of us? You are the more likely candidate for that rather than me."

Ava smiled "It is the only chance we have." she said then thought 'besides if something happens to the Bots it will be our responsibility to protect Miko and Raf.' After taking a drink of her water she continued "What else do we have to lose Jack? Optimus might be willing to tell us. If we ask him."

"And how does that apply to Jack and you?" Miko practically demanded

"Well some might believe that the trust Optimus had for her dad might have passed onto Ava." Raf said "and you even said that Jack was an honorary prime."

"Ok I get it." Miko snapped then frowned "but are we sure Optimus is going to tell the whole truth or just a part of it."

"That depends on how much he knows now." Jack stated "And how much he is willing to share."

"The question now remains is...When do we ask him?" Ava stated with a look of determination and a hint of worry.

#######

When Arcee and WheelJack showed up to pick the kids up, both under orders to keep silent about what was going on so to not scare the children. They did know that sooner or later they would start asking questions about what was going on, they hoped it would be the latter. Surprisingly the four human children were quiet during the trip though Ava did give WheelJack looks from her spot in the passenger seat.

"..." WheelJack sighed he wanted to talk to Ava, but he was not sure what to say. Bulkhead had told him that Ava might be afraid that he would toss her to a more experienced guardian rather than have her continue to be in his care. Not only tat but she also thought that he was leaving the planet. He did not want to try to confort her only to mess it up and cause her to cry. She had only one breakdown that he was able to calm her down from. the other on was when he was taken instead of her by MECH. That gave them some comfort in knowing MECH had no clue who Ava was and how close to the Autobots she really was.

Sighing Ava rolled her eyes and took a glance back at Raf, and gave him a small smile, she knew when Jackie came to pick them both up he thought something happened to Bumblebee, WheelJack managed to convince them that the others were fine they just needed them at base for the moment. It was then only time he or Arcee talked the entire trip.

When they got to the base the four humans looked at the other bots and walked to the hal to go to the room where the bots had moved their stuff temporarily since they stormed MECH there has not been a single sign of the organisation. Weeks passed as the bots still discussed what they were going to d and tell the children. When a month and fourth passed Jack and Ava felt it was the right time to start asking questions

Walking up to the room they were surprised to see only the Prime standing there, IronHide took a team to space but that was not a good reason why the base should have been completely empty aside from the Prime, they knew Bee was back with Raf and Miko, They made Miko promise not to bug Bee about what was going on. She reluctantly agreed.

"Ah...Optimus?" Jack asked

Optimus kept his stance, but looked over to them with his optics. "What is it that you need?" he asked.

"Answers." Ava replied "Optimus please tell us what's wrong."

"We do not wish to trouble you with worry." was the Prime's reply

"We already are." Jack said softly and quickly before the brunette said anything

Optimus took another glance at the two, still facing the console and was reading what looked like the iacon database not they had almost forgotten that ontop of stopping Megatron and MECH, the Autobots were looking for Cybertronian relics.

"Can you read that?" Jack whispered to Ava

"Yes, and no." she whispered back "The words barely make any sense, besides it's a code, Ratch only taught us how to read Cybertronian and not to decipher Cybertronian codes."

Jack wondered who the other one was that was learning to read Cybertronian from Ratchet, then assumed she was talking about her dad and brushed it off.

"Go back to the others. You will know it time."

"Optimus please." Ava asked again "I know I have not been here long but, please tell us. Jack and I need to know. Not just for our safety but for Raf's and Miko's too. We will not always have you Autobots to watch our back. Knowing what is coming so we can do that for you will help. We're Autobots too"

That finally got Optimus' full attention and now that they had it, they were unsure they wanted to keep pushing their luck with the Prime. He looked at them with a serious look one that he never used on them, it had with Agent Fowler. "You wish to know what we were discussing?" he asked

"Yes, Optimus we are worried. We need to know what is the matter with everyone. BumbleBee is not his cheerful self, Bulkhead is not taking Mio out dune bashing, Arcee is becoming antisocial again WheelJack is not spending time with Ava and IronHide took the team he came with back up to space. We really need to know what is going on." Jack said listing the ways the Autobots had worried them

Optimus nodded his head and they thought that they were going to finally get some answers "Return to the others. We will discuss his no more." he commanded making Ava and Jack jump, never had Optimus ever commanded any of them to do something

Jack was the first to leave, but stopped when he saw that Ava dared to disobey a direct order from the Prime. She looked down and what she said confused Jack but surprised the Prime "It was not your fault."

She then joined Jack and then they walked to the area that was left for them to hang out in while they older Autobots talked it out. Leaving optimus there to watch them leave, looking back at the computer and then back at the doorway jack and Ava had left through he signed. Sometimes Ava really reminded him of Sam.

#####

"Sooooo how'd it go?" Miko asked, when she was their faces she added "not well I guess."

"You were right," Jack said "We could not get him to tell us."

"Then...we really are in the dark on this." Raf said

"He wants to protect us." Ava added "Optimus believes that if we know we will interfere."

"..." a four way sigh Bee knew that they were looking for answers, he was kinda in the Dark as well. The other Autobots told him very little on what was going on, it really was the worst being the youngest among them. He might have been more mature than the twins but he was still younger.

####

As they were leaving for the day they saw that Optimus was waiting for them "WheelJack take Miko and Raf home I have something to discuss with Jack and Ava."


	16. Answers

Jack and Ava looked at each other nervously. Optimus rarely asked to talk to them personally and offer to take them home. Both gave Miko and Raf a reassuring grin before Ava's guardian headed out of the base. Optimus transformed and Jack and Ava hoped in the cabin and the Prime left the base.

The ride was silent for the most part, making the two sixteen year olds nervous. Finally they had enough of the silence and decided that one of them would start, thinking that is what the Prime was waiting for.

"Optimus?" Jack asked

"You requested answers, about what we were discussing." The prime stated making the two jump back at the authority in his voice.

"Yes." Ava replied "Please Optimus tell us."

"I know the two of you are worried. I would not condone telling the other two." he answered

"We promise." Jack said and Ava nodded

"What do you want to know?" the Prime questioned promising himself to not tell them everything just yet.

"What has gotten into everyone?" Jack asked

"We are worried. The news that WheelJack brought back was troubling." Optimus answered "Too troubling to not discuss it."

"WheelJack yelled at me to get out. Like he was worried that they'd jump out and grab me." Ava added "He only had a few dents, like they wanted information, but what?"

"That we do not know. WheelJack believes it has something to do with our past."

"You mean with... Ava's dad?" Jack started in shock. The three kids knew of Ava's past with the Autobots and her connections to them.

"Optimus what has dad got to do with all of this?" she asked looking a little worried "He died when I was five... almost twelve years ago."

Jack put a hand on her shoulder. He knows all about Sam and what happened, he also understands growing up without a (human) father figure.

"Sam was our liaison before Agent Fowler. Ava was going to be the first human to grow up with us and become the next liaison between Earth and the Autobots. If you wanted to Ava. No one would argue with someone who has grown up around us and has rode with the Autobots on missions. When Sam died those plans were forgotten. Our goals now were to protect humans, and not to let them get too far in our war again."

"Optimus...why is Sam so important?"

"That is what we fear MECH is trying to figure out. If they do..."

"We are in big trouble." Ava finished "Surely they know I'm his daughter. I mean WitWicky is not a common last name and I'm practically the namesake of an Autobot for crying out loud."

"You what?! Which one?" Jack asked but had a feeling he knew the answer already

"Take a while guess." She replied "I'll give you a hit think back to when my mom said my full name."

"BumbleBee?" he guessed without thinking and then shook his head "Can't be.."

"Correct." Optimus said while Ava was too busy laughing her head off at Jack's bewildered face.

"Ok back to the problem on hand. Why not tell us, if MECH is after us shouldn't we know." Jack asked and shrugged off the laughing brunette.

"You should, but we decided that we would keep a better eye on all four of you while we discussed how to give this information." Optimus added "They may come after you both being the two oldest."

"Wait Optimus..if Ava was going to take over from Sam does she have credentials like Fowler?"

"Not exactly, Ava was in the Cybertronian files until she made her decision when she became of age by human standards." the Prime responded

"Why would MECH be after us? Jack has already proven that he can be a challenge for them and if they know anything about my dad then they would think I'll be as difficult as he was."

"That is a question I can not answer. What I do know is that they would attack any one of you. Especially your parents."

"Isn't there a chance that MECH will crawl back into the hole they crawled out of?" Ava asked desperately a small bit of fear was in her eyes.

"It is a possibility. With us only needing to find the four keys, our battle is nearly over. MECH could give up, or lie in wait for other Autobots."

Both teens in the car could tell that Optimus was nervous and only one of them knew the full reason why. The rest of the car ride was silent until they reached the rode where Jack lived on "Optimus? What are we going to do, what's the plan?"

"I do not know, we cannot attack humans, even when the role they play is as if they joined the Decepticons."

Ava was silent as Jack left, when the Prime left the Darby residents in the direction of Ava's house the girl looked out the window sighing she asked "Are they in danger too?"

"It is a possibility if MECH finds out." he replied solemnly

"Will the cons find out about them then?"

"Another possibility, Ava."

"Optimus, about what I said..."

"No need to dwell on that any further. As much as you remind me of Sam, that is no reason to keep you lock away. I keep forgetting that your father has been in worse situations than now. But with MECH, I fear that they will not hesitate to bring his death into this." He replied "MECH is not like sector seven was, these humans will sacrifice one of their own to reach their goals. Even if the one being sacrificed is a human child."

"Hey, I'm not a child." She laughed "I'm practically an adult."

"We will discuss this tomorrow." Optimus Prime said as he pulled into the driveway.

With a smirk the brunette replied "About me being an adult or the whole MECH situation?"

"The MECH situation." he replied knowing that the girl was just joking.

"See you tomorrow Optimus." She said as she ran to the door

With a sigh he replied when the door closed "See you in the morning little spark." silently he left the home and made his way back to the base.

####

As the days passed since Optimus told them what they needed to know, they were slowly introduced into their meetings. It was still unusual for Jack and Ava to hear Optimus' authoritative voice. Sure he had used it in front of them before, but now they were part of the ones he was talking to. The plan they were given was simple to follow. The two human Autobots even kept what they found out from Miko and Raf. Agreeing to only share it during their Darkest hour. Ava fearing what the Prime ment by that. IronHide was present during a few of the meetings, and during the last one told Ava that by the end of the week they would be home.

The weeks passed by fast, and two of the keys were already found and were searching for the last two keys. When they got to the base everyone exited their guardians and headed to their locations. During the discussion of what was going to happen during the next few weeks IronHide and the team he took to space came back into the main room. Seeing that both of the humans there did not realize that they were joined by other bots, Hide got an idea. Walking over as quietly as a 25ft robot could, he snuck up behind Ava.

Yelping in surprise as she was quickly lifted up and tossed into the air and gettin caught in a pair of strong arms.

"Hide!" she cried with surprise and europia. "You're back early."

"Yeah, thought we could surprise you. How have you been Squirt." He replied

Ava laughed "Fine."

The discussion got back on topic as IronHide placed Ava on WheelJack's shoulders. Shocking the Wrecker. Normally Ava would sit on the Black painted Autobot when he returned from his space trip but IronHide sat her on his shoulders. Jackie wondered why the weapons expert would do this.

When the alarms went off, and Ratchet announced that another key had been found. With that being said WheelJack sat Ava down on IronHide's shoulder and left with a small team to go and retrieve it.

An hour later they returned with no relic. Unfortunately the Decepticons had taken the third key Ratchet and Optimus were quick to going to decipher the last iacon database.

Two weeks had passed with very little activity from the Decepticons or MECH. It seemed as though the human Decepticons had disappeared off the Earth. Making all the Autobots nervous. Ava told Raf and Miko about this even though it was not the Darkest hour yet. She said she would deal with Optimus if he was upset about it, knowing the Prime all of them waved a hand at him being upset, he was never upset at any of them; and was more likely to understand why she did what she did.

Smokescreen was on patrol and Ratchet and Optimus were close to deciphering the last of the data base. When smokescreen called in he was saying something but it was drowned out by shooting. When they got to his coordinates the young Autobot was nowhere to be found.

"Why would they take Smokescreen? Was it MECH?" Miko asked

"No, if it was MECH they would have jammed his communicator." Jack replied

Ava added "Not to mention that MECh would have snuck up on him, after he transformed. I know MECH can make clean breaks but not that quick. At least I don't think so."

"Then why would the cons want him?" Raf asked

"Optimus you might want to take a look at this." Ratchet called

The four human Autobots followed the Prime Ava and Raf jumping up on the council like they usually do, with Ratchet, not that the medce minded, to see what he was talking about. The words did not say any coordinates instead it took the shape of an Autobot. The very Autobot that was taken. Smokescreen.

####

The young Autobot was trapped and cuffed down on Knockout's med bay, on to one of the operation tables raised up so that he would instead of lying down like at the Autobot's base. Smokescreen was knocked out cold lying in the Decepticon's med bay voided of the phase-shifter he swiped from the in the base of the Autobots' base


	17. A choice of life

Smokescreen woke up to see a Deception looking over him. He was smirking at the trapped Autobot, that was in his med bay. They questioned him about the last key, and to his surprise he had the last key inside of him.

####

"So are you telling me that all this time we had one of the Omega Keys?" Ava asked

"It appears so." Ironhide confirmed as he tried to calm her down along with Chromia both knowing what happens if the brunette got too worked up.

"So how are we going to get him back?" Raf asked

"It will be difficult to get through the Nemesis' clocking to get his energy signature." Ratchet explained.

"Well we can't just sit here." Bulkhead snapped

"For now that is all we can do." Optimus said gravely "You all are correct we will not leave Smokescreen with the Decepticons."

######

With the phase-shifter _Knockout_ reached into Smokescreen and took out the last key. Giving it to Megatron. Knockout stayed behind, and ended up getting tricked by Smokescreen and the Autobot with the phase-shifter and the Decepticon Medic in a wall. Running through the ship he grabbed the the two keys that were on the Nemis and left.

He was greeted by the Autobots and he told them all that happened on the ship. Making the four human Autobots cringe when he brought up the cyberlink patch. They now had three of the keys and they only had to get the last one from Starscream. For a chance to revive Cybertron and beable to finaly go home.

A week had passed since they had gotten three of the four keys to the Omega lock, and had learned about it. When Starscream contacted the base none of the children were there, Some of the members of team Prime took them on a drive while WheelJack left for something giving IronHide temporary guardianship over Ava. When the kids got back they found out that they no longer had any of the Omega keys in possession and they all were in the hands of the Decepticons. They were sent home early that day, and they had school the very next day.

Starscream took the keys to the Nemesis as a peace offering to the warlord, and asked if he could rejoin the Decepticon ranks. Megatron did not believe a single word Starscream said, he was great with words being able to string them together to get any bot to do what he wanted them to do. Whether it was getting them angry or flattering them. The leader of the Decepticons learned from past mistakes, he knew that he should keep an eye on Starscream or kill him, but since he gave them the Omega keys he was going to give him a chance. But this time instead of hearing what he was going to promise, which was likely going to be a bunch of lies, he opted to go to the source. Inside of Starscream's mind.

Linking up with him the warlord sent back lots of memories of how Starscream betrayed him, and went back on his word. Throwing his loyalties out the window to feed his own ego, or to get what he wanted whether it was leadership of the Decepticons ora relic. Dreadwing even saw what happened to his deceased twin, Starscream brought him back to life, promising himself that later on he will pay Starscream back for what he did to his twin. Dreadwing continued to watch Megatron demand what has the former second in command done to make him trust him enough to let him back on the team, what was the reason he should not destroy him, before he destroys him. Starscream begged for mercy like he always did when Megatron was angry with him. begging for another chance, claiming that he changed and he was going to be completely loyal to the leader of the Decepticons now and forever. That his time alone had shown him where his real loyalties lied. Megatron forgave him and let him rejoin the Cons. Only because he was a danger not to keep a closer eye on. Gratefully Starscream accepted the terms and thanked his leader.

Dreadwing confronted Starscream for what he did to his twin, demanding for an explanation and wanting to kill the jet, who just got his T-cog put back in him, donated by on of his clones, Knockout who was in the room left to go and get Megatron. The new second-in-command kept moving closer to the Seeker and was about to strike him down when Megatron blasted him down instead, with Dreadwing's own cannon. When Starscream thatnked him, he glared at the Cybertronian that he spared by killing his own second-in-command.

"Don't make me regret it." he spat and left

Leaving a fear filled seeker in the Med bay, wondering what he could do to make up for all he did and to thank his master for sparing his life. Knowing that Dreadwing could justify his action and it would not have been that much of a problem with him gone. After all he did to the Decepticons Megatron would not have even batted an optic at his death. All they had to do was find the location of the Omega lock on Cybertron. Sure it would give the Autobots time to prepare and get themselves a Spacebridge. but they had to figure out how the keys worked and where it was.

During the next few days Starscream and Knockout worked on the keys to figure out what they needed to know. When both of them got into a fight from being up the past three days with nothing to do but study the keys. When they were going to hit each other with one of the keys, the two keys connected giving them an idea. On the count of three they slapped the last two keys connecting all four key together, creating a holographic visual of Cybertron, and the coordinates to the Omega lock. All they had to do now was alert Megaton, put the coordinates in and head to Cybertron. They were going to win the war that lasted for over twenty (Earth) years.

####

Optimus worked with the forge to fix their ground bridge to also be a space bridge and fixed the Star Saber as well. When the human children were dropped off by their guardians to school they headed to Cybertron with all of the weapons and relics that they collected over the year they were looking for them. Fighting for the keys to restore Cybertron their had a mission, get the keys from the Decepticons and make their way to the Omega lock. When the keys were stolen by the Autobots from them Megatron wanted to go after the Autobots but with a sinister smile Starscream said that he had a better idea to get the keys back form the Autobots.

####

"Well that was rude!" Miko yelled when Ratchet hung up on them.

With a sad smile Ava shrugged "He probably needs the coms open, Ratchet needs to keep them open if they need an emergency Spacebridge. Come on, lets head home. We could use the fresh air. Besides... we can...maybe..." She stopped mid-sentence knowing that she could not even defend what Ratchet did. She knew he was a little cold to them and had received some of that cold treatment herself when the Medic was busy or overly worried.

"Couldn't he have groundbridged us to the base?" Raf asked as they started their walk. "No one is at school right now, and he could have used the track field...or at least somewhere there was no people. We've done it before."

"It wouldn't have mattered, besides what's the point of going back to the base. It is clear that we are not wanted." Jack said "Other wise we would have been bridged back an hour and a half ago."

The other three knew Jack was correct. If none of the Guardians or reserved Guardians could not pick them up then Ratchet would have bridged them to the base. "Besides they only had us around so the Decepticons would not kill us because they thought that we were with the Autobots." he added as an after thought "We were never technically in this war or with the Autobots. Even though they are our friends."

"Ah, Jack. _I'M_ with the Autobots. My family worked along side of them. I was apparently already in this war." Ava pointed out, pointing at herself, then crossed her arms.

They were getting closer to the open space of Jasper. The revin where they were usually bridged from, once there they would call the medic and if he refused to bridge them to the base then they would follow his demands to go home. Looking around they saw no one there and went to call the Medic when a bridge popped up in front of them. Jack and Ava stood in front of the two younger ones, hoping that Ratchet just tracked their phones and opened a bridge for them out of habit. Slowly the four backed away, Soundwave appeared from the bridge.

"Miko, Raf Run!" Ava yelled as she turned and shoved the two forward and ran herself and pulled Jack along.

The four of them ran away from the Decepticon's surveillance chief.

"There." Jack pointed to the drain he and Raf hid in when they first met their guardians. Hoping that they could get far enough in that Soundwave could not get to them.

"You two go now!" Ava demanded as she slowed down an bit and looked for a weapon to use. Once by one they were taken. Pulling out her phone Miko went to call Ratchet. Surely he would help them he had to. He was the only one who was close enough to help them. Unfortunately before the call made it to the medic, they went through the Decepticon bridge. Tossing them in separate containers Soundwave waited for Megatron's signal to bring their bartering chips to him. After a few hours Ava started to wheeze and breathe heavily. She grabbed her chest and slide down the wall of the glass dome that was slightly opened. She had tried the pasted hour to climb out with no such luck. Knokout was the one to notice the girl's discomfort. Walking over the the containers to see what was going on.

"What's wrong with that one?" he questioned pointing to Ava with a raised eye ridge.

"As-Asthma." She breathed out quickly as she dug through her bag that was not surprisingly taken from her at all.

"What is this Asthma?" he asked

No one answered the Decepticon Medic but form what he witnesses it made the human uncomfortable, and breath heavily. He watched as she pulled something out of her bag, After she breathed in the medicine she helped her breathe. Letting out a rather loud sigh she relaxed against the glass wall.

"Why do you want to know?" She demanded "You don't care about us." She then smiled at the red medic "They have the keys to restore Cybertron. That's why we are here." Ava smirked then fell at the realisation that the Decepticons were going to use them to get the keys.

"So you figured out our plan?" Starscream stated as he and Soundwave entered the room "The Autobots are almost there. I see the Autobot's pets are caged up."

"Ha Ha," Miko sarcastically laughed "Haven't heard that one before." she then rolled her eyes.

Raf looked a little nervous so Jack turned his attention to the youngest of them "Don't worry Raf everything will bee alright."

Starscream was going to retort to Jack's statement but, Megatron contacted them telling them that it was time. He told Soundwave to bring him Ava's prison container. "How devastating will it be to Optimus when he sees I have the humans he cares so much about. It will crush him having to make this decision, and even more if he fails to protect another human." They heard him say over the com unit.

Soundwave picked up Raf's pod along with Ava's, Knockout took Miko's and Starscream picked up Jack's. Ava stayed silent but shared a look with Jack Miko and Raf. All four of them knew what needed to be done.

Once they started to go through the bridge Megatron put the capitol that Ava was in behind his back. Beharly hearing the conversation that was going on, not that she cared she was busy trying to figure out how to get out of this container that trapped her in place, and held her oxygen supply. She silently gave the most silent con a compliment on his craftsmanship everything she needed for temporal survival was there. Oxygen. All she needed to do was break the glass and... she did not want to think of what was going to happen afterwards her only thoughts were. The Autobots must win, whatever it took to ensure an Autobot victory.

Yelping she she was moved from behind the Warlord back and shown to the team of Autobots, on the other side of the field. Ava made the mistake of locking eyes with Optimus Prime. The prime looked like he was surprised and afraid which shocked her. Taking a deep breathe she looked around and locked eyes with two other Autobots. Ironhide and Chromia. Turning to the side she could not bare the thought of how it would crush them, but it needed to be done. The four of them looked at each other and silently agreed, they forced themselves not to make anymore eye contact with the Autobots.

"Starscream."

"Come on out, Jack." He taunted and went to open the contaner that held the male sixteen-year-old

"Do it, they were willing to sacrifice their lives for my planet so I'll do the same." he replied

"Me, too." Miko added then turned to Knockout "Creep" she called him and sounded like a little child.

Raf could barely speak, he mumbled his agreement

"Go ahead." Ava spat "I dare you. You've been trying to get rid of me ever since I met up with the Autobots. Many Autobots sacrified their lives for our planet. I will gladly do the same." With a smirk she added "And I'll tell my dad you said hello." she hoped that would be enough to get Megatron upset enough to open or break the capsil.

Megatron glared at her and she glared back. The con broke away to look at the Prime.

It was all up to Optimus now, he had to choose what he was going to do. Save his planet for future generations, or their four human allie's lives. The very ones that helped them so much in the past.

Ava already knew what Optimus was going to choose, feeling desperate she did what Miko did before she started to kick the walls that held her prisoner tossing herself against the glass, hoping the Decepticon leader would drop the only thing keeping her alive. She made the mistake of looking at the faces of her guardian and the other Autobots, she calmed down. But looking at the other Decepticons and her fire returned. She stopped completely when she heard Optimus start talking.

"If I doom the Autobot cause on Cybertron then so be it, but I will never choose to forsake our human allies." he said and slammed the Star Saber to the ground and stepped backwards to fall inline with is team.

"No." Ava whispered she wanted to start screaming at Optimus but the words died on her tongue.

Arcee was the next to disarm herself and the others followed suit, tossing all the relics they had by the Star Saber.

"Well, dropping your weapons already?" Megatron taunted "Since it is the Star Saber and all the relics you have desperately kept from my hands I will give you the girl." he held Ava up "Come and take her, Optimus."

Slowly the Prime made his way over to the leader of the Decepticons, he was going to send Ironhide to collect his charge, but the weapons expert waved him forward to get the Witwicky child.

"I have a name buckethead." She snapped. Even when she was in the safety of the Prime's arms she still tried to lunge to break the container, but Optimus Prime held onto it tightly. Walking backwards again he kept his eye on Megatron. Once he fell back in line with his Autobots, Optimus handed the girl over to IronHide who was quick to wrap his arms around it as if shielding her from any more harm.

Ava was full of rage she could barely payed any attention to what was going on. She heard Megatron tell her fellow Autobots to come one at a time. Looking up she saw Knockout coming toward them, but he stopped wen he was lined up with Megatron, he taunted Bulkhead and waved him forward. Bulkhead looked over to Optimus and Ava fallowed his gaze, the prime nodded slowly. She knew why she was handed over first. So she could not ruin his plan like her father had always. With a nod from their leader one by one each guardian collected their charge. until Jack was left and Arcee and Smokescreen both were the only ones with keys left. Ava payed more attention this time, how was he going to get both keys now, he gave her up in the beginning.

"If this one was important enough to trust with the Matrix of Leadership then he is worth two Omega Keys." Megatron stated and wave in Jack's direction.

Ava's eyes widened Jack was trusted with the most sacred artifact in Cybertronian history, only a prime or one choosin by a prime could hold the matrix with out it bursting into dust. That's what Miko ment by Jack being an honourary Prime. Both bots made their way over to Starscream once Jack was back over with the Autobots a Spacebridge opened.

The Autobots formed a protective barrier around them, but all the vehicons did was hold their weapons against them and stand there. They watched as the Decepticons turned on the Omega lock and fixed a Cybertronian structure. They were all impressed that it worked really well.

"By the Allspark." Optimus whispered

Ava whistled in amazement with wide eyes.

While Jack and Miko both said "Wow"

Knockout complemented how shiny it was making the humans roll their eyes.

"Megatron this conflict is between Autobots and Decepticons. Allow me to bridge them back to Earth." Optimus demanded

"Oh, I don't think that would be wise. They are much safer here." Megatron replied

"How!" Ava demanded

The silver bot ignored her and turned to Starscream "Are the coordinates ready."

"As per your order Lord Megatron." Starscream replied with a bow.

Megatron want on about how he would rule both Earth and Cybertron after Optimus explained that the Omega lock would Cyberform Earth and make all life on that planet die. Megatron fired the lock through the Spacebridge to bring a building of Cybertron to Earth.

"No!" Jack yelled

"Leave Earth alone." Miko finished

Ava looking furious joined in on pounding on her container along side of Jack and Miko. Tossing herself against he walls of the container.

Optimus watched as three of the four humans tried in vain to save their planet, he did not dare to look at Raf, hearing the laughter of the Decepticons filled him with rage and he armed himself with his sword ran for the Star Saber.

After grabbing his weapon he ran toward Megatron, cutting off the Decepticon leader's arm and charged at the three Cons that were by the lock. Starscream fired a missile at the charging prime who dodged it flawlessly and used Starscream as a step to jump high in the air and brought down onto the only thing that could save Cybertron. The explosion was huge and covered a large part of the city or field they were in.

Then the explosion cleared the flow of energy stopped and communications between Ratchet and Optimus connected again.

"Ratchet open a Spacebridge." was all the children heard

Once the bridge opened all of the Autobots ran right through.

After surveying the damage that Optimus had done, and hearing a joke from Knockout, the Seeker smacked the medic and demanded that he assist their leader

Laughing maniacally he said that they can run, but will never be able to run home.

###

When they all go through the bridge Ratchet was suprised to see that all four of the human children were coming through the spacebridge as well. When asked about it no one answered. He demanded what happened and he was told. That just made him upset at the prime something not even Ava had seen before. Telling Optimus something that they had heard him tell the Bulkhead, and the twins before but substituted the "I" for "We" and sounded extremely disappointed in the prime.

That made the three children angry. Miko and Jack called him out on it and Ava was trying to keep Raf calm and herself from having an Asthma attack and from crying.

When Agent Fowler came and told to look outside. All of the guardians went topside and commanded that all of them stay put. They nodded and the Witwicky child stared daggers at the medic, making Optimus believe that if the other three or at least Raf was not there she would be screaming at him.

When they got there they were shocked to see a Cybertronian building close their base, which meant that they finally found their home. When the war ship finally showed up and a speech form Megatron the ship closed in on the structure of the base. They saw WheelJack and Fowler stalling the Decepticons long enough for them to escape. Quickly the other Autobots made their way down to the main room in the base and Optimus made his way to the controls. After explaining the plan, they all were hesitant to be broken up, but knew it was for the best and reluctantly agreed.

On the monitors they watched the battle as the Autobots quickly gathered around to come up with a plan; out of the corner of his eye Jack saw Elita sadly look at Optimus, and give him a hug. Jack nudged Ava and when he got the other sixteen-year-old's attention her nodded in their direction. Giving the black haired boy a shrug, she mouthed that she would tell him later. Explosions shook the base, they knew at that moment that the Cons had found their base.

Returning their attention back to the screen they resumed watching the battle as the other Autobots left the base. Once it was time for the humans to leave, they were sent out quickly, before Raf left the base they heard and loud explosion and turned to the monitor. What shown on the screen was the Jackhammer getting blown up.

"WheelJack." Ava screamed

"Jackie." Bulk gasped but his words were drowned out by Ava's scream

Ironhide went to comfort her while Chromia helped. She said nothing as she looked sorrowfully around the base. To the Autobots that were present during Ava's first few months at the base, she acted like she did bck then, surprisingly to the others she did not cry. Though she looked as though she would burst into tear at any second. Which made the prime sigh.h

"I'll go last." Ava declared as tears threatened to fall from her eyes, and the Prime looked at her and shook his head; but she kept insisting.

###

Two vehicles sped toward the base of the Autobots. Trying to make it to their children. Knowing that they were in trouble. A helicopter flew by and Agent Fowler stepped out. The two women got out of the cars.

"June, Carly? What are you two doing here?" Agent Fowler asked in surprise

"The children." Both moms replied.

Agent Fowler sighed "They are fine. The bots are taking care of them. The children are top priority to them. Carly you know better than any of us. We have to get out of here."

Carly nodded and assured June that they would be fine. Even though she had some doubts herself. They had never taken care of a human child without human assistance before. All three pulled into the copter and headed for the base where the agent worked. They would be safe there and Team Prime would more and likely meet there. To more and likely drop off the kids.

######

One by on they exited the base, being sent to different locations that were picked by the Prime. He refused to let anyone know where the other was going. Smokescreen went through and Ava along with IronHide went next, before she jumped into her guardian she ran toward Optimus and hugged his leg. A tear fell from her eyes and she smiled sadly at him, she could not say anything fearing the second she opened her mouth she would burst into tears. Pulling her bag higher up on her shoulder she jumped into the driver seat and they made their way through the bridge. Ratchet was the last to be sent through the bridge.

"Your not bridging out?" He asked

"Someone needs to make sure they do not find you or the others." Optimus replied

"It has been an honor."

"Likewise old friend." the prime replied

Once Ratchet was through, Optimus raised the Star Saber and smashed it against the groundbridge control console as the base exploded.

###

The Decepticons walked through the area that once held the Autobots base. Smiling at how it crumbled beneath them.

"Scout out all remaining relics that the Autobots did not bring to Cybertron." Megatron ordered.

The cons that were with him looked around the Autobot's former base. Little did they know or see was the hand of Optimus Prime sticking out from some rubble close to where their ground bridge once stood.

#####

A black vehicle swerved at the explosion and stopped facing the spot where the bridge was seconds ago. They had lost. The decepticons had finally won. The Autobots lost. The Decepticons had won, With wide eyes the brunette stared at the spot where the groundbridge was, bursting into tears she sobbed. Ironhide's Spark broke at the sight of the usually cheery girl reduced to a sobbing mess. He knew how important Optimus was to her, how important he was to all the human children; he was not just the leader of the Autobots to them. To Jack and Ava they looked up to him like he was their father figure. The only one they had. For Rafael and Mili he was the same but like a second one. With Raf, he could talk to Optimus and not feel invisible. With Miko she could tell him anything, with out the fear of him yelling at her. IronHide knew that the children would not take the knew well, no one would. Ava felt the strength of the blast as it tore through the ground bridges. No doubt Ratchet had the same thing happen to him. He did not want to think about the two that were the closest to Optimus.

First Wheeljack and now Optimus. They were loosing their team. They were losing their family. Hide tried to comfort her but the words died on his tongue. She would not even get out of the car. IronHide would have thought the shock temporarily paralyzed her if it was not for the shaking of her shoulders as she cried. When she started to calm down he thought she was done enough to to talk to him. He needed to know that she was not hurt. He had to know.

Once she stopped breathing heavily she screamed the first and only thing that came to her mind as fresh hot tears poured from her eyes. "OPTIMUS!"


	18. What now? Part one

Ratchet stood where the bridge once stood, the bridge re-open and an explosion followed. He knew Optimus was gone. He had a feeling that Optimus was planning on sacrificing himself to save everyone, but he hoped that he would have pulled a fast one and scheduled the bridge to explode completely. It was over. Transforming into the ambliance Ratchet left to think. He would find a place to rest while he thought about what he should do. As she drove he decided that once it got dark he would walk the rest of the way to where he wanted. How was he going to tell the human children, especially Jack and Ava.

The medic knew that the Darby boy had no father, thanks to Nurse Darby clearing that up, during one of their talks when she visited and the children were spending time with their guardians. Ratchet had seen how much the boy looked up to the Prime. If anyone were to be a father figure to the boy, Ratchet could not think of anyone else better to be that role model then Optimus Prime himself. Jack had told Ratchet that since Team Prime was a family Optimus, being the leader, was the father. In human terms the father was the one who protected the family and was the head of the house. Now that was in traditions, nowadays the women could also be the protectors of the family.

With Ava, well Ratchet knew that Optimus had been the first person to be honest with her about her Father's death and had been there for her when she needed him to be. When her dad was still alive he had been there for her dad on numerous occasions. He still could recall that when she was four, the little child convinced the serious Prime to read her a story. It made every Autobot there smile, she had always been attached to the prime, and a few other Autobots. He saw the way she looked at their leader and heard her confess to Ironhide that she saw the prime as a father figure, She even told WheelJack that Optimus was one of the people she looked up to.

All the kids would be devastated. Optimus had brought them together, had kept them safe. Ratchet figured the best plan was to make sure the human children were safe. They were the main concern, then they would go from there. As he walked he continued to think about how he would tell the other Autobots about their leader's demise. He could list a few bots that would be devastated to hear the news. As he was getting into a Junkyard for cars that he saw, the medic heard a sound behind him. Turning around Ratchet came face to face with a human, who took his picture and ran.

Sighing Ratchet shook his head, he regretted his decision to walk instead of drive. Then remembered the sites that the children were constantly on and looking for pictures of the Autobots. He hoped that one of the children will see his picture and get to him before the Decepticons do. Transforming he drove till he found a perfect place to hide, and waited.

Quickly transforming he looked around, he thought he heard a sound. He must be going crazy, Ratchet thought...it was one of the children. Shaking his head, he reminded himself that the children were miles away. Sighing he wondered who would lead the Autobots now that Optimus was gone. Elita came to mind first, Elita was good, but she never handled this large of a team before. He quickly dismissed the next bot to come to mind, that bot was not ready to lead yet. Arce could be a good leader.

It was usually a toss up between him and her for second-in-command. Then he thought of Jack and Ava. Jack being an honorary prime and Ava being born from an honorary prime. By Earth's culture that would make her a Prime by default. An honorary one to be exact. Jack and Ava had both proven to be worthy of the title, but Ava was too emotional at times and Jack. He was prone to panic when fighting when he had no back up. They needed a Prime. Not a human one a Cybertronian one. They needed Optimus. Ratchet sighed it was over, with Optimus gone they could never win. No matter what they did, if they followed the Protocol by returning to Jasper as the meeting place. They would be destroyed and who knows what would happen the their human allies. The war was over and the Autobots lost.

###

The twins were laughing as they sped along a dirt road. They were heading toward Jasper Nevada, instead of being professional they could not help but race each other. They knew that if Ratchet or one of the more responsible Autobots were there they would get in trouble, especially if they were a guardian. They had heard what happened to Smokescreen, when he endangered Jack, and when he almost ran over two of the children. They forgot who the two were but they did know that the oldest one shield the youngest one in that scenario.

Mudflap and Skids wanted to find a place to hide from the Cons while they were heading back to the place they were bridged from. Hoping that they could find some of their team and that when they all get back, Optimus would have a plan. Sending the whole team to different locations did buy them some time, but it made it difficult to get back to each other. It was only a temporary solution, get the humans out of the base that was going to explode, and sending other Autobots out to help out.

They saw a cave that Mudflap hoped would hide their energy signature. Since they had their race the pain on their vehicle modes were covered with mud and dust. So they would not be that recognized by the Decepticons that were searching for them. When they got to the cave Mudflap walked in followed by Skids. Skids ran deep into the cave to hide his energy signature, Mudflap followed slowly. They had found each other quickly, they thought that Optimus must have put them closer together, because they were twins.

Skids and Mudflap had decided that they would put aside their childish ways, until they found the others and they had a permanent safe base again. Sighing the twins sat down and look toward the cavern that lead to the exit. Wondering if anyone else made it out alive or even avoided capture. Four of the Autobots had to watch a human, and with out backup they could be easily taken by the Cons. That worried the twins, even though they had not known the humans for long, they still cared for them.

"Get some sleep Skids. I'll take the first watch."

"No, I will,"

"Really, we are going to fight now." Mudflap asked "Look you can take the first shift next time. just get to sleep."

"No, sorry. we flip to see who goes first."

"Don't have a coin."

"Then what?"

"Just please get some sleep Skids. You look like you are ready to collapse."

"So do..." Skids passed out before he could finish.

###

Chromia followed the pull of her spark, she did not know who it was she was heading toward but she had a few guesses as to who she was gaining on. She found a lead building and followed the bond. She knew that any bot that was there would have their signatures hidden by the lead in the walls, and ceilings. She new it had to be either one of her sisters, if Arcee then Jack as well, or Ironhide, with Ava no doubt, since WheelJack was fighting the Decepticons giving them a chance to escape.

As the red motorcycle moved inside the base she looked around. Hearing crying coming from farther inside, she ran toward the sound. Seeing the site of her sister she hurried forward and wrapped her arms around her Elita. Gasping in surprise the pinkish-purple bot looked up and saw one of her two sisters.

Chromia knew what happened and softly shushed her sister. It was rare to have siblings on Cybertron of any kind. Twins were rare but siblings of different ages was extremely rare. When Elitia calmed down the two got ready to leave. It was a long way to Jaspar and they needed to get going. Quickly

forming a plan follow the path that would lead them to Chromia's husband, and that it could wait till morning. Right now Elitia needed comfort.

Later on that night Elitia announced that she felt something faint but alive. That brought some comfort to her sister. Unfortunately she did not know who was the faint signal being sent out to Elitia. After insisting that she was alright, and that they should move forward, the two left technically it was morning, the sun was just not out yet. They had to find the others. Once gathered they would do what the humans do and vote on the leader.

"Chromia? Do you think that the other's are alright?" the pinkish purple motorcycle asked

The red female bot replied "Of course they are. Why do you ask?"

"I have a feeling that not all of us are completely safe."

"Your a motherly bot, Elitia, You worry about everyone. I'm sure everything is fine."

"Optimus. He would have never left the base. Feeling that it would be safer for all of us if he stayed behind and..."

Transforming Chromia sighed, she knew that when Elitia got worked up she imagined the worse. That is why the bots thought that Ava got her worried streak from. That got Chromia laughing. The traits Ava got from her parents, were also traits that she could have learned from both Elitia and Optimus.

"What's so funny?" Elitia questioned as she transformed

Shaking her head Chromia looked at her sister "How much the human children act like us. That and the traits that Ava inherited fro her parents, are the same traits that someone could learn by watching you and Optimus."

As the sisters finished their conversation, they transformed again and headed back to Jasper. Chromia glad that thinking about how Autobot like the human children were, getting her to laugh. She was getting upset at her sister for looking on the bad side of things. Though in the back of her mind she knew that if anyone knew of Optimus' fate it was Elitia. She knows the Prime as well as Ratchet knows him. Maybe even better.

###

Elita felt the pain in her spark, she knew that Optimus would more and likely stay behind, to make sure that the team could not be found. He was a Prime and took great pride in protecting the team, his family. As she walked away from the location she hid after exiting the bridge, she thought of how she would spread the news, not only that but she also had to think of a way to explain how she knew what happened to their leader. For some of them she could chalk it up to knowing the Prime better then the others. Ratchet and IronHide were the two bots who knew Optimus as well as she did, Chromia and Arcee knew her the best, so that was four bots that she could not fool. Sighing she transformed and sped off, was she the leader of the Autobots now that Optimus was ... MIA? or was it Ratchet? Seeing a building Elita entered and saw that it was empty. Transforming out of her Alt. mode she walked around the factory and sat down. Now that she was hidden and had time to think of what to do next, she started to plan. Unfortunately her emotions got the better of her before she got too far in her decisions and started to cry. When arms wrapped around her she jumped, but then relaxed because she knew they were her sister's arms and leaned into them.


	19. What now? Part two

Agent Fowler was in General Brice's office. He was called in to brief his commanding officer on where the Autobots were and on the four human children civilians that were missing. William knew that it was time to come clean. He avoided telling the General last time he was grilled about it but this time he was not sure that he could avoid it. Only one human did not have a huge role, that he could explain and that was Ava. He hoped he could come up with something soon. When the door opened General Brice stepped forward with a camera man behind him.

"We will be recording this for the Archives. Now Tell me about these new Autobots and the Four human children you have allowed to witness the Autobots." He said "and start with the Autobots that are new."

Fowler nodded "Well there is Smokescreen, he is quiet eager to prove himself. The bot acts like a kid, though after getting a few hard lessons he seemed to realize that he needs to push aside childish actions and not goof off or get upset when being cut off in town. Having to get yelled at that it was not a game and almost running over two human children, as he was coming in from the bridge. After that he received another lecture about human safety."

The general nodded and waved him to continue

"WheelJack is a wrecker, think Black ops, he also is a skilled pilot. He became the newest guardian over our new human contact. Since there were only a few choices that could keep their cover. He was the best selection because he would rather have himself injured or worse than risk the life of one child if it meant that he could survive. WheelJack is very fond of explosives, though will only use them in dire consequences."

After a small pause he moved to the next bot "Elita is Arcee's sister, out of two. Brave and loyal she is fierce on the battlefield. But off the battlefield she is warm and motherly to everyone. From what I made out she is the original second in comand. Sometimes I think that there is something between her and Optimus."

General Brice lifted an eyebrow but did not ask any questions or demand for an explanation.

"Chromia is the next and last of the sisters Arcee has. Like Elita and Arcee she is excels on the battlefield, in our terms she is married to another bot named IronHide. Chromia is patient and likes to wait for her opponent before striking. IronHide is a weapons expert who is trigger happy when it comes to Decepticons, but is willing to wait. Though he has a soft side that he can't help but show around the children. These three are the first choice, of temporary guardians, when the original ones can not attend to watching their charges. In the past he was a guardian but when his charge left he headed up to space."

Sighing Fowler knew that he could not avoid these two any longer "The twins. Mudflap and Skids. Both are fluent fighters, that make the Cons run. As serious as they are in battle, they are not like that all the time. Both twins love to prank, though it is mostly to get people to relax. I've seen Prime on a few receiving ends of these pranks and each time he just gives them a kind smile. Though Ratchet gets upset quickly with them, but is also quick to forgive them."

General looked around and then asked "Is that all of the new Autobots?"

"Yes, Sir"

"Then tell me about the human children. Tell me who they are and how they got involved."

"Yes, Sir." Agent Fowler replied "Jack Darby, one of the oldest of the four frequent visitors to the old base. He is responsible and often having to think on his feet to save them from Decepticons when the Autobots are engaged somewhere else. Raf is the second human that found out. Skilled with computers he often helps Ratchet out at the base. He often helps out Ratchet with the human technology. Miko is adventurous, and too eager to help the bots out. Half the time having to end up getting saved by one of the older two. She often helps out the best she can. Nurse Darby helps out with the cover story, if one of the children stayed at the base. Also she provides medical knowledge for the human children."

"Is that all?"

"No two more showed up." William said with a smile "Ava and Carly WitWicky."

"Wait, they found them?" General Brice questioned in surprise "Without any contact they found the

Witwicky girls? How?"

Fowler shook his head "More like Ava found them."

"Explain." General Brice demanded "Explain how _EACH_ of the children came acrossed the Autobots."

"Jack came acrossed Arcee by mistake. He was just getting off work and found her in her vehicle mode. She had to take him with her when Decepticons started to close in on her. Bumblebee showed up a little later. When they arrived Raf saw them, the next day Miko found Arcee out when she was convincing Jack to see Optimus. Ava...well Decepticons showed themselves to her. She was calmer about it then the others. Carly found out a few months later, and helps out with the cover of of the Autobots along with Nurse Darby."

"And Ava?" General Brice asked "What does she contribute?"

"As you are aware. Ava was supposed to take over as the lesion to the Autobots after Sam. Unfortunately Carly moved away after... you know . She wants to try and be the lesion and she contributes by knowing how to speak Cybertronian and being able to read their language. Being emotional she also encourages the tough bots to express a softer side. For instants when I first met IronHide, he aimed his weapon up and asked me if I was feeling lucky, turns out that's how he greets people, and shows them his weapons in a friendly manner. Later found out that he was the team's weapon expert. figured he was one of those too tough to care type of bots" Agent William Fowler said "I then saw him with Ava not a day later and it was like he was a completely different bot."

"Why was this not reported to me immediately." The general demanded "Why were we not contacted when you found out."

"At first I was going to report it. But After the I was rescued and a talk with the bots I figured that it could not hurt. In fact it might help them blend in better around town, so I let it go. I told them if any of them get injured to the point they need a hospital, well they understood."

"I want to have a talk to the children when they come in. We will discuss this when all of them are here." General Brice demanded "Dismissed."

When William left she saw that Carly and June were in the hall waiting for him, sighing he left to tell them the knews. Hoping that he did not have to separate any of the children from their guardians. General Brice might not have said it himself but, Fowler knew that the general was thinking about separating them. he just hoped that was not the case.

####

"So where are we going?" Jack asked

"Back to Jasper, we are going to meet up there and then figure out what to do next."

"Arcee. how do we plan on finding the others?"

"I can find my sisters quickly then we can find IronHide and go from there."

"How?" Jack asked confused and intrigued at the same time.

"We are connected through the spark, we can sense when one is in danger, injured, scared, or worse. Our connection also allows us to track where they are."

"... so which sister are we going to follow first."

"It does not work that way Jack, At least not usually Elita is real upset about something and since Chromia and I can feel her emotions... it makes it hard to tell who is who sometimes"

"What else does the connection allowed?"

"We can send feelings through to help comfort our family." Arcee said "Get some sleep Jack we will stop for the night."

"Isn't that bad idea, the cons are hunting us."

"There is a shelter not far from here, as long as you keep off you phone, we will be fine. Unless you want me to carry you."

"I'm good. I'll rest there, I was just..."

"I know Jack, Jaspars been evacuated, I'm sure that your mom is fine."

"What about Ava's mom?"

"Carly is fine too, they more and likely headed toward the base and Agent Fowler saw them and got them out in time."

When they got to the structure Jack sat down on an old couch. and started to drift off, he fell asleep as Arcee sat next to him and guarded the door. In the morning they would head back out, and hopefully run into someone they know. Closing her eyes Arcee focused on her connection to Elita and sent love and comfort to her.

####

As the green jeep drove down the country road, the rear view mirror adjusted to see the sleeping form of his charge. Miko had fallen asleep a while ago. Miko performed in the town they were in, and got a little cash for food, her guitar was in the back seat. She told him to wake her up in a while but he did not want to interrupt her rest. Unfortunately he hit a pothole and it woke her up.

"Where are we now?" she asked rubbing her eyes.

"Don't know. I can't turn n my GPS otherwise the cons will find us." Bulk replied

"Oh, well...how long was I asleep?"

"Not long."

Looking outside she saw that they were close to a meadow, and a river was on the other side. She saw bushes of fruit, and started looking through the camping book Ava got her.

"How about we stop here and stretch."

"Sure." Miko said and jumped out and ran toward the plant.

"MIKO, becareful; it could be poisonous."

"Relax, Bulkhead, Ava gave me a camping book. It has all these plants in it, and if they are ok to eat or not. I just wanted to make sure, they were ok. She even promised to take us camping after the whole MECH situation ended. And don't worry, she printed it off two days ago. Made them into books for each of us."

"Alright, just stay safe. After a while we will go forward a little longer, then make camp for the night." the green bot explained

"Sounds like a plan." Miko said

###

Raf and Bee were looking for a new vehicle, mode. Since the cons were looking for them and they were in the city, they figured that it would be safer if they got a new look, since they would be heading for country roads soon.

"We need something that is similar to how you look now so the others can recognise you, but different enough to hide from the Decepticons." Raf said "What do you think?"

*"I think your right,"* Bee buzzed "But instead of going newer I think I should scan an older version of a car."

"So, how about same type of car just different year." he offered "That should work."

*"That's what I said... basically."* Bee replied

Rafael turned to his guardian "I'm sorry. guess I'm a little worried about everyone else. The base did blow up, and we are all scattered around the America. Not only that but we do not know who all survived."

*"Raf. Raf. Calm down. I get it, but we need to keep calm."*

Raf took a few deep breaths, a few tears prickled at his eyes. BumbleBee watched as his charge calmed down. It took a while for him Rafael to relax, and when he did Bee finally spoke.

*"Raf, you need to eat. I also found a new vehicle mode."*

#####

The black van sped down the road, Ava looked out the window. She signed at the thought of not contacting her mother and letting her know that she was alright. She wondered if this was anything like her dad had to face. The brunette watched all the cars pass by as they drove off, to their designation. She was silent for a majority of their trip that day. Never giving verbal response to his questions. That made IronHide worried he never got more than a nodd a shake of her head or a shrug of her shoulders. Any other question he asked would go unanswered by his charge. He knew why she was acting like that, in one day she lost her guardian/best friend was now gone, and just seconds later Optimus Prime, was destroyed along with the very base she reconnected with the Autobots.

"Squir...Ava?" IronHide asked "Are you...do you wanna stop, stretch and get something to eat?"

His response was a shrug.

"Come on, can you please answer me. I really miss hearing your voice and I'm starting to think that I'm just talking to myself." He added

Ava did not respond other than a sigh, the weapon's expert was going to try again to get his charge to talk again when,

"We should probably stop after a while. After we find Chromia who are we looking for next?" Ava replied calmly

IronHide answered "My guess is one of her sisters, we could also look for the twins."

"Can I ask you something?" she questioned

"Sure."

"I want _a hundred percent_ honesty IronHide." Ava demanded turning her gaze to the dashboard.

"Alright, Ava, what is it?" he requested

Her features softened a bit more "What are the chances that they are still alive?" she asked

"Well we are still alive and they exited the base before we did so I'd say that the chances are pretty high." he replied "Ratchet exited not long after we did so I'm sure that he survived as well."

"I was not referring to the others. I was referring to WheelJack and Optimus."

The black painted bot sighed he turned down a dirt path and drove deeper into the forest. After a few minutes of silence he opened the door for as a way of telling her to get out. Jumping out of the front seat she turned to find the weapons expert transform into his bot form. She waited for his answer.

"..."

Ironhide wanted to tell his Squirt that everything would be fine, but he did not even believe so himself. Even if Optimus did survive the attack on their base, WheelJack was another story.

"Look, Ava, I'm sure WheelJack is fine. He could have ejected before the ship blew up or operating it from afar. We do not know if he was inside the ship. He probably survived a lot worse than this."

Ava nodded

"And Optimus. You know it is hard to kill a Prime."

Smiling for the first time since they exited the groundbridge she replied "Yeah, you're right it is near impossible to kill a Prime. Jackie is resourceful he might...could have survived."

"I bet he is on his way to Jasper waiting to see your face, either with out a single scratch or a new scar and a story." IronHide said with a laugh glad that he could cheer up his sparkling.

"Yeah, thanks Hide." she said and they started out again.

####

On the Decepticon warship hanging by his arms passed out guarded by decepticon vehicons was WheelJack.


	20. reuniting the team

Bee was driving from the small town that they stopped at, they were closer to Jasper then they thought, then again Bee did rarely sleep and drove all night. So it could have been farther than Rafael thought. He was looking out of the window absentmindedly with a frown on his face. Bee knew he was worried, and wanted to comfort his friend. Unfortunately he could not, considering they were on a busy road and Raf was currently in the driver seat sitting ontop of some textbooks that he had in his bag. Hearing jets fly by Bee waited to see if they were Decepticon or human. All the while

he and Raf were hoping their plan had worked.

When the jets started to leave BumbleBee turned onto a small dirt road and hid behind trees and overgrown bushes that were on the side of the road. When Raf hopped out Bee transformed and pulled back a bit of the branches and looked up, watching as the Decepticons left the area. Smirking a bit Bee watched to make sure that they were gone before giving Rafael the all clear.

"It's a good thing the Cons did not recognize you with your new paint job."

*"Yep, inversing my colors worked."* Bee beeped as he looked over his shoulder at the sky, then back to his charge. *"Now What?* Bee asked himself he kind of wished that one of the older bots

would find them quickly. He was still a kid by their standards, to be more accurate he was a teenager though he was closer to Raf's age. He was worried about the others, last time the Autobots separated with humans one of them died. True he was revived, but it still shook Bee to his core. Especially since he witnessed it.

Raf silently watched as his guardian thought hard about what to do next. He knew Bee was the youngest of the Autobots, like he was the youngest of the human Autobots. Raf had to wonder why Optimus did not allow Elitia to fallow along side of them, or something. They were children Even if he sent Ava along side of them, would have worked. When Rafael looked back up at Bee he noticed that BumbleBee was staring at him, as if trying to tell him something bad. It was common knowledge that Optimus treated Bee a little differently then the others, at first they assumed that it was because he was the youngest. But as Raf read Sam's journals and talked to Ava about, past experiences with the Autobots and, being the lesion; he found out that it was a bit more personal then any of them expected.

Rafael sighed "Yeah BumbleBee?"

All the yellow autobot did was transform and open his sportscar door. A silent way of telling Raf to hope in. He only did this one other time, though he did ask Raf where he wanted to go. Jumping into the scout's vehicle mode. They drove on to Jasper. While the scout drove Raf took out his lap top and went online to look at the sites with pictures of encounter with aliens, hoping to find the team. After a while he found a picture of Ratchet, or what he hoped would be Ratchet. After getting the coordinates he scrubbed the picture from the site and place another one over it.

#####

Agent Fowler slammed down the phone, he had just gotten done dealing with Megatron...again. Now that the bots and the four children were MIA, the leader had started to annoy him. He was glad that MECH had seemed to crawl back into the hole they crawled out of. But for how long? When his door opened without anyone knocking he knew who it was. With a small smile he greeted the two Team Prime moms.

"Hello Carly, June."

"Have you heard from the kids yet?" June Quickly asked

"No, I haven't. That is not necessarily a bad thing. They went dark. Ava's last text proved that. I...we have to assume they are fine. The bots will keep them safe. Ask Carly."

June looked at the other worried mother who looked les freaked out than she did. "While it has been a long time since I dealt with anything like this. I agree with Agent Fowler. The kids are safe. We can not contacted them. Without access to a ship or...groundbridge they could be in more danger then they are in now. Have faith that they will protect the children. I wish I did, back then. Trust the Autobots."

June looked at them and back to her phone she took out of her pocket. "I need to know where my boy is." she explained sadliy

"And I want to know where my daughter is, But I have to trust the Autobots. WE have to trust them. At least you know Jack is with Arcee. Mr. and MRS. Witwicky had no clue where Sam was half the time they had no clue what he was in the middle of all this until his freshman year at college. When they ran into each other in Egypt." after a few minutes June did not look convinced so she added "They will regroup here, and when they do Jack is going to need you. We all are. You can't help them if you are to tired and weak to move. When they get here and they WILL get her we need to be ready to treat injuries. Physical or emotional. After all the base they called a second home was destroyed."

With a sigh June nodded her head and pocketed her phone, giving a sad smile to Carly and William.

"Now we need to be ready when they come, lets set up the stuff for the kids. General Brice agreed to let them stay here with the bots. We are bringing in two couches. How about you help make this place a LITTLE homey for them, for when they get here." William Fowler offered

Both mothers agreed and followed the agent out of his office, that had a bit of work to do, but it would be worth it for the children. Raf's parents were told that He was with his friends cause Of Ava's last text to her other and Miko's host parents were also informed with the same information, The explosion might have been big enough to whip out some of Jasper, but it was not big enough to cause too much panic or news coverage. The cover up was that it was a weapons test gone wrong.

####

Shockwave returned from prying into WheelJack's mind with the cyberlink patch. With no results. That surprised Megatron considering WheelJack was the Witwicky girl's guardian and should know where at least his charge was. If not where she is where she is going. If he did know then it was well hidden in his mind.

"Lord Megatron allow me to see how much our guest really knows." Starscream asked

Shockwave turned to the seeker "How would you succeed where thy Cyber patch failed?" he questioned

"I am interested to see this Starscream. You may, as long as you do not kill him, we still need him online." Megatron replied ignoring Shockwave's statement "And Starscream after that stunt you pulled earlier with the dancing animal you better hope this works."

#####

Miko and Bulk were making better time then they thought, but the road trip games they played were starting to get boring so they took a break. Pulling out her phone she started to play a game on it only for Bulkhead to slam on the breaks flinging her pink phone from her grasp. "MIKO, No cellphone!" he demanded in a scolding tone he rarely used.

With a smile she grabbed her phone and showed the screen to her guardian "Relax Bulk, I'm just playing a game." she replied

Since it was just and game that was already downloaded he allowed her to continue to play. After all even he was bored of all this driving. In a few more hours he would stop to stretch and rest. None of them enjoyed being in their vehicle mode while resting. They could pull it off, and Bee could go longer then the could, but they prefer to stay out of their vehicles that's why Bee got the gauge when he was Sam's guardian. Bulkhead had to wonder how the others were doing.

Miko had collected a lot of those barriers and had eaten a bit of them before they left. So she had something to eat, but he had to look for an energon cave. He would have to refuel in a few days, and if he did not find a cave before then Miko would be alone, and that was the last thing he wanted.

Two hours and thirty minutes later Miko started to get tired, the game was discarded and her phone was back in her pocket. As they neared a clearing Bulk saw that it was a great place to stop for the night, before allowing Miko out, he drove around and saw some good hiding places that the cons could not get Miko in if they found them. Opening his door, Miko jumped out. Awhile after stretching and she fell asleep leaning against Bulkhead's leg.

####

Smokescreen looked at the week Optimus. The Prime had just woken up from the realm of unconsciousness and when he spoke it was not the smooth voice that everyone associated with Optimus. It was raspy and very weak. He wants to do something for the Prime, but what could he do. He was not a medic like Ratchet. All he could do was patch up the wounds so they would not hurt as much. When Optimus spoke again it dragged Smokescreen out of his thoughts.

"T-The...Forge." Was all Optimus whispered

"That's it, I'll get you the forge and you can fix yourself up.

Before the Prime even got a chance to say anything the young bot was gone. Sighing Optimus was glad that the human children were not present to see him like this. Seeing how much they, looked up to him, he did not want to cause them worry. His thought went to who should be the next Prime. He knew he was not going to make it. The reason he wanted the forge was for a mission. The final mission he would give and the first mission the new Prime would lead. The choice was hard to make, his team was full of capable Bots and to be possible Primes. Even the human children shown potential. When he final got it narrowed down to about two bots Smokescreen entered the hidden cavern, pulling the Forge of Solis Prime.

"One Forge, just like I promised." he declared proudly "Now you can Fix yourself up."

Optimus wanted to give Smokescreen the mission so he could pass it along. But he was too weak to speak as much as he wanted to. So he cut straight to the point.

"The..Forge only...has a limited amount of power...use the...rest to...to rebuild the Omega Lock." He commanded, then in a spir of the monument he made his decision "It...is time to pass the Matrix onto... a new Prime."

Before Optimus could continue Smokescreen interrupted, "Who?"

Taking a few deep breaths Prime answered "I can think of none better than the bot...right before me."

Smokescreen was shocked. Him a Prime? He could think of tons of bots more worthy of the title. When the Prime offlined his optics Smokescreen made a decision, instead of taking the Matrix, he dropped the Forge in Optimus Prime's hand. It activated and Smokescreen waited for the Prime to open his optics, praying to Primus that his plan worked.

####

When WheelJack woke up he saw that he was hanging in the prison of the Warship. Unfortunately he could not think of a plan before he was dragged through the halls and toward a break in the floors of the fortress. When he looked down Jackie saw that it was a smelting pit. They were going to toss, him inside. The first people that came to his mind was his honorary brother Bulkhead and his charge

Ava, how he was never going to see them again. Looking around he to find a way out. If not for him, then for Ava, and Bulk. Thinking quickly he came up with a plan

"So quick question." he said "Grounder or flier?"

Before his question was answered he grabbed onto one of the guard and tossed him toward what they were going to throw him into. When he transformed into a jet he smiled "So flier. Perfect."

Jumping down he landed on top of the con, as he was flying away. Breaking the chains he jumped off of the con when he saw land and drove away from Jasper.

"Looks like you plan failed." Shockwave said when they saw what happened

Before Megatron could yell at the seeker Starscream retorted "Actually the interrogation was not my plan, nor was dragging him to his death my plan either. The Autobot thinks he escaped, and would go and meet up with the others. All we have to do is give him a head start and then follow him. WheelJack will unintentionally lead us to the others."

"For once Starscream, a plan of yours just might work in our favor." Megatron said with an evil grin.

#####

Elitia and Chromia were driving through the desert, looking for other Autobots. Chromia was trying to follow the pull of her Spark to lead them to IronHide. The drive was silent and it unnerved Chromia. Elitia was usually the one to strike up a conversation. Yet she was silent. She hoped they would run into someone that could talk Elita out of her silence. There was only one time she was like this and that was when...Chromia suddenly stopped and gasped. When Optimus had died Elita went silent. When he came back thanks to Sam she was her usual self again. Chromia hoped that it was not the case and Optimus was simple put into spaces at the new base because of his injuries. That was the worse case scenario she hoped for, the bst case was the she prayed that he simply turned off his signature so he could round up the others and tell them where the knew base was.

Unfortunately she knew that was wishful thinking. Optimus was either on his deathbed or he was already dead. Chromia knew that when they made it back to Jasper and regrouped to go after the Decepticons, Megatron was Elita's. She did not know yet if she should feel sorry for the WarLord or not. As they were driving they saw dust clouds driving towards them from the right. If the ones coming closer to them where humans then they could just ignore them and leave. If it was Decepticons they could take them but, they could just keep sending more and more re-enforcements. If it was Autobots, that would narrow down their search.

They could not transform, incase it was humans, or Decepticons; considering that they were supposed to be hidding from them. So they stayed still and watched as the dust cloud grew bigger and bigger. When they could finally make out the vehicles they saw two familiar cars, which lead to one of two possibilities. They were who they thought they were or, they were humans. The cars started to stop and when the cloud of dust disappeared the four vehicles were all that was present. No one spoke.

Finally Chromia had enough of the silence and decided to strike up a conversation. "Hello, are we in your way?" She asked making sure to have her holoform move a bit.

The silence was starting to drive Chromia crazy, normally she loved when it was silent. But there was a such thing as too silent. She was relieved to hear a familiar voice. Even if it was not one of the few voices she wanted to hear.

"Chromia, Elita is that you?" on of the vehicle asked

"Yes, it is Skids and MudFlap." She replied glad that the twins were found, now all they had to do was find IronHide and Arcee and look for the others. The four of them headed in the direction that the girls were headed in.

"So, where are we going?" Skids asked

"To find IronHide." Elita answered before Chromia could. "And then the others."

####

It was night at the Junkyard where Ratchet was hiding, he contemplated on getting up and looking for the others; but something in his spark told him to stay. He was upset that they lost Optimus. Questions on how they were going to win without him or at least a leader. When night fell he felt like there was no hope. He decided to power down and hope he was in a better mood in the morning.

Hearing the roar of an engine he froze, wondering if it was the owner of the land, or someone looking to by a rusty old car. When headlights landed on him, he remained still; and was surprised when Raf popped out of the front seat. But still he remained silent. Hoping that they would think he was just an ordinary ambulance.

"Ratchet!" Rafael called again and this time louder.

Finally he decided to answer, it was clear that they knew it was him. "Can't you see your interrupting my sleep cycle." He hoped that maybe it could at least wait till morning.

The conversation was making Ratchet upset. All he wanted to do was get some rest.

"There is no one else to deal with this Ratchet. No one else can deal with this. Only THE TEAM." Raf practically yelled

He did not mean to but he finally snapped "What team, We are all spread out who knows where, and we will not stand a chance. Not without someone to lead us. There is only us Rafael."

"It's a start." He yelled back "We can find the others. Now's just a start."

With all his anger gone, Ratchet sighed and transformed back into his vehicle mode "Just leave me here to rust."

Rafael moved to where Bee was who had transformed when Ratchet went off. When he saw his charge coming closer he transformed back into his Alt. Mode and opened the door for him. A few tears fell from Raf's eyes. Ratchet did not see the tears but he heard the hurt and sad tone of the human boy he had grown accustomed to helping him out at the base. When Bee left he was suddenly hit with remorse and wondered if it was a wise idea to follow. Both Bee and Raf did bring up good points. With a smile he decided to follow them and he could get some rest when he knew his team was safe.

#####

Jack and Arcee were by an abandoned gas station when Arcee called for a brake. Getting up she stretched and started to walk away from her charge.

"Stay here and I'll scout up ahead." she said and walked off

Jack looked into the direction Arcee left in. He was told by Arcee to not use his phone to contact anyone. The internet was only for an emergency. He was feeling uneasy, not because Arcee left. She did that every time they stopped at a place that was not in a town. Pulling out his phone he stared at it.

"A text couldn't hurt, right?" he asked himself "Mom's worried sick I know it."

He wrestled with himself on sending the text or not. they were told that there was a good chance that the Cons were looking through human connections. but they couldn't right. Not all of them have human charges. Typing in his message he looked around then sent the message

###

June was standing alone in Fowler's office, he had just gotten done re-assuring her that Jack and the other kids were safe. She knew she could trust Arcee to protect her son. But her worry over-rided her knowledge that the Autobots would not let anything bad happened to the children. When her phone went off she looked at it and smiled.

 _ **'We are fine. Don't worry.'**_

Running out of the room she called for the special agent and Carly to tell them the news.

#####

When Arcee came back Jack was just putting his phone back in his pocket.

"Ready to go?" She asked

Jack was going to answer her but before he could make a sound jets were heard over head, looking up they saw that it was the Decepticons. Running as Arcee shot the cons that were attacking. Ava was right. He should have stayed in the dark. When a ship passed over head, when the cons were gone because of the explosion of the gas station, Arcee stood square in front of Jack. When a bot stepped out of the ship her stance relaxed.

"Arcee, who is that?" Jack asked slowly

"Our chance to win." she said with a smile "Jack this is Ultra Magnus."

#####

IronHide was walking in the forest by Ava. He had wanted to have Ava rest but she refused. She kept stumbling and Hide worried that she would hurt herself. He decided to try one more time.

"Squirt...I think that it would be wise to rest now. Can't fight when you're to exhausted to stand." he said

Ava sighed, she knew he was right but she wanted to continue on. The faster they got to Jasper the better. Looking up at her original guardian, she smiled. "Ok Hide I'll rest. But..."

"I'll continue on for a while," he offered "Hows that sound. I know you want to get to Jasper, but running yourself into the ground won't help."

Nodding the brunette climbed into the weaponspecilists hand as he walked forward. The Witwicky child did not go to sleep she merely rested her aching legs. When IronHide stopped he sat her down on soft grass placed her head against his foot. Not as soft as a pillow, but at least she was a sleep.

Two hours later the girl was jolted out of her sleep by the rev of engines. Jumping up she got ready to fight. IronHide was next to her, his cannons out and ready to attack. When he felt a pull in his spark he lowered the weapons and smiled. Catching his look she smiled too, her smile broadened when she saw who it was. Never in her life was she happy to see the prank masters. Immediately she jumped up and ran forward and wrapped her arms around the female Autobots hand that she lowered. Elita smiled at the girl.

"So, what now?" Skids asked

"Now, we find the others and head back to Jasper. Since we met each other on the way we should just head in the direction of asper." IronHide explained

"For now we rest, and see how we are going to deal with this, considering the fact that we will draw attention to us." Chromia stated "A black jeep and two neon cars following it and two motorcycles are going to cause attention."

"Again What's the plan?" Mudflap reworded his twin's question

"This, is." Elita said with so much anger and determination that Ava flinched and moved subconsciously moved away from the motherly bot.


	21. reunited

Elita was worried, Ava was sleeping in the passenger seat; her head was against the window. From what IronHide told her, they had seen the aftereffect of the blast when it tore through the open groundbridge. She knew how close the teen was to Optimus, as a child little Ava would run up to him with the biggest smile, now she looks up to him. Elita knew that she must have been taking his death hard. How she wished she was at his side.

When they stopped for a break she cried out in pain, causing Ava to jolt awake and fall out of the car when Hide opened it for Chromia to get their charge. (It was a joke around the base in D.C that Ava was IronHide and Chromia sparkling. She might be Sam and Carly's child but she was their sparkling. Sam and Carly never really minded with that joke, the bots were family after all.) When Ava got off the ground she looked over at the pinkish purple bot.

"Elita!" She yelled running up to her she added "Are you alright?"

"Yeah...Yes, I think so." she gasp with a hand on her spark.

"You sure."

The second in command looked up at her sister "... yeah" she whispered

"Elita?"

"Ava, I'm fine!" She snapped, and when she looked at Ava she was surprised that she was not tearing up, or looking at her in surprise. Instead she was glaring up at her, almost like she did not believe a word she said.

"Then why don't I believe you?" Ava asked with a raised eyebrow, and her arms crossed. "Please, tell us what's wrong?"

"That's just it. I don't know." She replied as she leaned against the twins for support.

####

Raf was jumping across the computer of the Decepticon ship The Harbinger. He and Bee had been trying to activate it, with little success. When the power went on both boys were happy, unfortunately their bliss was short lived, the power shut back off.

"Ep Ep, your calibrations are off." A voice said making them both jump and Bee aiming his weapons at the voice. He quickly lowered them when he saw that it was just their medic.

"Ratchet! You changed your mind!" Raf cried with joy.

"Of course I did." the medic replied "Now move so I can get some work done." sounding a bit grumpy but a ghost smile appeared, as he typed away.

####

Miko was resting on Bulk's leg and the former wrecker was trying not to fall asleep.. He was keeping watch. Checking the clock he rationalized that he would give Miko another hour before waking her up, and continuing in their way. Hearing a noze he stood up and his hands transformed into his weapons, moving his legs to get into position to attack and waking Miko in the process.

"Miko take cover." he commanded and was glad his charge did what he said without complaint.

The noise grew louder and louder, and it drew nearer to them. Narrowing his optics Bulk let out a gasp and let his weapons change back to being his hands. "I know that sound anywhere." He told

Miko and the two saw WheelJack enter the clearing.

"Ah haa, Jackie!" Bulk cried and embraced the wrecker when he transformed.

"WheelJack!" Miko cried "You're alive!"

"Yep. the cons wanted information on where Prime sent you all." the sword wielding bot explained

"When we saw your ship blow up we thought you were a gonner. Ava almost bursted into tears when she saw the wreckage of the JackHammer." Bulkhead explained

"Yeah, but she will be thrilled to know your alive." Miko added

WheelJack smiled "Can't wait to see her either. But first we have to deal with something." he held up a tracking device and attached it to a small raft and sat it in the stream. "Found it after I escaped, figured I should look for any tricks. Seemed too easy for me to exit Buckethead's fortress."

Sitting on a cliff the three of them waited for the Decepticons to take the bait, when they did WheelJack activated the explosions he hidden along with the tracker. "Now time to get noticed by the others" Jackie added "Come on the cons have an Energon cave near by. I saw it on my way here."

Moving along the cliff, they shortly came acrossed the energon mine, creeping slowly WheelJack, and Bulkhead placed grenades around the mine. When they were back at the mouth of the cave, where Miko waited hidden behind some rocks. The explosion caused by the explosives mixed with energon was massive and caught the site of a passing by ship. When it landed and the door lowered to reveal Jack, Miko ran forward and threw her arms around Jack. She was fallowed by the two wreckers, who smile at the site of them hugging.

####

The phone rang in Agent Fowler's office again making the human man grumble. "What is it this time Megatron?" he asked with venom in his voice.

"Fowler, it is Ratchet, I'm using Decepticon a frequency, hopefully they are not watching theirs as heavily as they are human and Autobot. I'm taking a tremendous deadly risk in contacting you."

"Ratchet, is everyone alright?" Nurse Darby asked

"I am sending our coordinates" the medic replied quickly almost like he was ignoring her question

"Ratchet, are the children safe." Carly questioned in a demanding tone.

Before the red and white bot could answer both of the worried mothers' questions Bee ran in.

*"Ratchet, we have a ship incoming."* Bee buzzed

"What." was the last thing the humans heard before the autobot medic hung up.

After a few minutes of trying to get in tough with Ratchet Fowler ran for his jet, followed by the two working mothers.

####

Ratchet and BumbleBee, ran out to see defend their temporary base, when Bee noticed that Raf was following them he lowered his hand as a silent way of telling him to stay put, glad that Raf stopped before running into his hand.

When the ship got closer Ratchet let out a sigh of relief "It is one of ours."

The door lowered and they saw half of their team standing there "Raf" Miko screamed and ran forward followed by Jack.

Raf ran towards his friends and was quickly embraced by Miko who picked him up. Once sat down on the ground Jack and Rafael hugged. Ratchet let out cry of relief that they were alive.

"Nice paint job Bee" Bulk complemented

"Lucky for you that your colors work together no mater what. If I'd inverse my colors I'd be pink and blue. Elita is the only one that can pull the color pink off." Arcee said

Looking around WheelJack searched for the familiar face of his charge. "Where's Ava guys?" he asked

*"She's is not here."* Bee said sadly

"Well his tracking must be broken because we are all he could find." the wrecker added and looked down with a frown. "We're seem to be all that's left, ..."

"Relax buddy. I'm sure they just turned off their signatures. Besides Ava was with IronHide. He will keep her safe." Bulk said trying to cheer him up. Even though he was unsure himself.

When they saw a plane heading toward them Ultra Magnus aimed his weapons at it, only to be stopped by the other Autobots.

"No, that's Agent Fowler." Arcee said

The plane landed and they saw the agent and then Carly and June get helped out of the jet. The first thing June did was run to her son and embrace him, after a minute Jack pushed forward, Miko and Raf who embraced her as well. Miko and Raf then hugged Mrs. Witwicky, who accepted the embrace from the two children.

"Your families are safe, Agent Fowler managed to evacuate Jasper in time." the nurse said.

"Where's Ava?" Carly questioned looking for her daughter.

No one dared to answer the blonde, they were worried that she would be upset, that no one had seen her child since they left the base and that was almost a week ago.

Finally Arcee decided to answer her "We don't know yet. We are also missing half of our team so that could be an indication that she is with them, or at least one of them, more and likely IronHide."

Carly nodded her head and surprising the others she asked "So, what's the plan now?"

"We can't just wait around for Optimus to show up, or the others. With or with out them we will go after Megatron." Ultra Magnus said

###

The plan was simple use Jack and Miko to lure cons in two different directions, then have Jack send a fake distress signal, from an energon mine through the harbinger. While Agent Fowler waited for Ultra Magnus' signal for air support. Understandably Arcee and Bulkhead were uneasy about sending their charges out alone like that, but with a working groundbridge thy were for the most part ok about it.

##

When Megatron saw that his army was scattered around America he was enraged.

"Starscream, tell me why my forces are scattered around." he demanded

Scared out of his mind the seeker replied "Attempting to put an end to the Autobots, apparently they found a way to trick us. Can't understand why with out..."

Soundwave interrupted the seeker with a picture of the Harbinger showing that it was fully operational.

"You left the Harbinger fully operational, to fall into Autobot hands!" he yelled causing him to whimper in fear

"Allow me to fix that error." he said and summoned his air armada. "This will make quick work of the ship and destroy it. Along with the Autobots using it."

Megatron only growled at the second in command.

When the fortress started to shake Soundwave pointed to a screen depicting the fortress and showed that it was being attacked.

"Perhaps instead of targeting the Harbinger your armoda should protect the fortress!" Megatron scold and Starscream thought that he was going to be hit.

Sending out his armada to meet the Autobots.

####

Tossing another grenade WheelJack and Bulkhead ran toward the building, While the cons were distracted Bee and Arcee decided to jump in from behind some catching the attention of one of them Bee punched him out cold. All the while Ultra Magnus was piloting his ship knowing full well that they would send the predacon after thm. While the Predacon followed Magnius he was watching to make sure, calling Ratchet to open a bridge he go out of the way and the dragon like cybertronian went through,sending it to the Arctic where it would freeze.

After a while of flying Ultra Magnus took his opening to destroy the fusion power source. Unfortunately ran into Shockwave. During the fight he was spotted Megatron. With Starscream and Shockwave assisting the war lord, Ultra Magnus was soon defeated in the throne room that was at the top of Megatron's structure.

Their plan to keep the Decepticons separated did not work for so long, once the others got back the tide of the fight turned into decepticon favor. They were soon defeated and captured.

####

"That's weird it's an Autobot signal, but it's airborn." Ratchet said with surprise. "No, Autobot on Earth can fly without access to a ship."

No one noticed a small group of Autobots entering the Harbinger.

####

"I know that color scheme anywhere." Starscream said "Lord Megatron."

Megatron growled at the incoming Autobot, preparing to fight.

The flying Autobot got closer and closer to the fight and tackled Megatron sending him crashing into his own throne, and took on all three of the Decepticons that defeated Magnus.

With a smile he comes "Optimus is alive. Optimus has returned" he repeated it three times. When the Autobots on the ground heard this they started fighting the distracted Vehicons that were looking in the sky.

Looking at the bot that spoke Optimus was confused as to why he was there, but that was a question that could be answered later. Right now they had more pressing matters to attend to first.

###

The three humans and Ratchet heard this and started to cheer, when they heard cheering behind them they jumped. When they turned around they were surprised to find bots behind them, and Ava standing on IronHide's shoulder looking completely different since the last time they had seen her. In the light they saw Ava had on a red tank-top on dark blue jeans and a camo jacket tied around her waist, her long brown hair was tied in a braid, and a hat rested on top. She had on a necklace on that had a grenade charm (symbolizing WheelJack), a gun charm (for IronHide) and a bee charm for (BumbleBee). Her bag was slung across her back, over one of her shoulders. Instead of her tennis shoes she had on boots.

"Ava" the other children called and she smile and jumped off of IronHide's hand when it was close to the ground, running toward them and enveloping all three of them in an embrace.

"You all need to go out there and help out." Ratchet said and opened a groundbridge for the other Autobots.

The group Ava came with ran through the bridge and disappeared. The others turned to the female brunette, so many questions rang through the children's heads and did not know how to asked them.

The medic looked at the Witwicky child and asked "How did you know we were here?"

####

As soon as Optimus showed up the tides had returned to Autobot favor. but the Predacon had returned forcing the others to make a retreat back to the Harbinger. When the Prediction was bridged to that location they were just getting the humans aboard and the humans that Agent Fowler lead had helped to keep the predacon distracted long enough for team Prime to got on the ship.

####

After their plan to destroyed Megatron's fortress and take back Jasper some what failed the they made their way to building E that would serve as their home and Base for the time being.

When Carly and Ava were reunited they hugged each other, Ava hugged her mother tightly, though when she caught a glimpse of WheelJack her smile broadened. Letting go of her mom she ran to him and slammed into the hand he offered her. Most of them there expected to hear her burst out into tears, but was surprised to hear her calmly say "Your alive, but your ship exploded...how."

"I'm tougher than I look" WheelJack replied with a laugh. "What's with the outfit change?"

"When we were on our way here we got into a little trouble with some decepticons, during the fight a con went to grab me but missed and when the battle was over my clothes were all tattered, I had to buy new cloths from a store." Ava replied with a little less details than what actually happened, she did not know how to say her old clothes were more burned up than tattered, without making them go into a panic. How do you say a hundred foot metallic dragon attacked you.

Ava questioned "What now? Don't the Decepticons have all of the relics that were at the base, or at least most of the relics. What are we going to do now?" Then added "Not to mention they have the cybertronian equivalent to a dragon."

"We continue the fight to them." A new bot said making Ava turn to see a bot she did not recognize.

"Who are you?" she asked in surprise. She had a vague memory of most of the bots on Team Prime and was introduced to the ones she did not know. Like Smokescreen and WheelJack.

"I am Ultra Magnus." the bot said "I see another human that disrespects authority" glaring at the bot, Ava got the feeling that the new bot did not really like either her or her species that well.

"Names Ava?" she said with a small smile that the other bot just blew off. Rolling her eyes she walked away

"Try using the word Sir, at the end." Jack whispered "He responds better to that."

"Thanks for the tip," she replied with a smile. "But Optimus never had us the word. We could just address him with his name."

"Prowl is less rule tight then he is." Skids whispered adding on to what Ava said

Mudflap just nodded in agreement. "And less strict about titles."

A few hours later Ava getting ready to talk to General Brice. The general had already talked to Raf and Miko about what happened and was now talking to Jack. Before any of them met up with the general in charge of the sector, Fowler had thanked all the ones that helped out in the fight.

Miko made a comet about how Optimus looked amazing and joked about what the forge could do for Ratchet. The medic knew that it was a joke and let it go though he did roll his eyes. After a brief talk with Smokescreen about his instinces being good, mostly because he made a good call.

Ava whispered to IronHide "Isn't this like the second time Optimus practically died?"

To which the black bot nodded his head, to the girl who was standing by WheelJack, Chromia and him. After a few more minutes Fowler came back and looked at the brunette girl.

"Ava, General Brice wishes to speak to you now." Agent Fowler said after a few minutes.

Nodding her head Ava followed Fowler to where the general was located.

As she left she caught a glimpse of Optimus and Elita who stood off to the side away from everyone else and she caught Elita attempting to wrap her arms around Optimus' new form, when the prime looked up he saw that Ava had seen them. Just by putting her finger against her lips told the Prime that she would not tell anyone about what she saw. Though Optimus had a feeling that she already knew what his relationship with Elita really was.


	22. getting used to things

When Ava entered the office, she became self conscious. Agent Fowler closed the door behind her, but not before giving her a sympathetic look. Taking a deep breathe in hopes that it would calm her nerves, she sat down. The general looked at her and sighed, he knew all about her father, and that the children had done a lot for the Autobots in the past. According to the others and his Agent, Ava was still pretty new to Team Prime and had not done as much for the bots as the other children. Unfortunately he needed to be briefed on what happened and she was with half of the team so he needed

to talk to her.

"Ms. Witwicky." He started "Or do you prefer Ava?"

"Ava is fine, Sir." She said softly.

"Alright Ava, we will be recording this conversation like the others, for the archives. Now we will start off simple. How did you find the Autobots?"

"Well, I don't really know how I found them. We moved to Jasper, Jack offered me a ride from school he and his friends were kind and then we became friends. As a shy as I am it is kindof hard to make friends." she explained "Two months later we were playing in the outskirts of Jasper when a jet tried to run us over. Miko and Jack ran off towards the cars while Raf and I ran in the opposite direction. Turns out it was a decepticon,Starscream, I sent Raf to go back to the others while I distracted him. I turns out he wanted me for some reason. Long story short that's how I met them."

General Brice nodded "So tell me how you and Carly were able to keep of the Decepticon radar for so long without Autobot help."

"We constantly moved. When I was younger and I said I saw BumbleBee or any of the other bot's names we'd leave. That or when something out of this world happened. Finally we made it to Jasper." she said "How are you getting along with the Autobots. How well do they act around the other children?"

"We get along fine. Everyone gets along a well as they can. Few bumps here and there but all in all fine." She said feeling more like she was in a shrinks office than a debriefing.

"I've been told that you get nervous easily, how do they handle this?"

"Usually I'm with Ratchet and the others at the base. Very rarely do they allow humans to fight with them. Actually the only times is when we sneak out to battle. Though we rarely do that and Ratchet gets upset with us about it." She replied then added "They speak directly to me, calmly and basically make sure I don't end up having an asthma attack."

"And Optimus? How does he react, when you go out to fight the decepticons?"

"Gives us a lecture and tells us that they are glad we are alright and that he wants us to be careful." She replied

"What happened when you went dark with the IronHide?" He asked

"After I sent my last text to my mom IronHide and I left the old base." Ava started "We had a plan to go back to Jasper as the meating place. As is protocol. We managed to stay ahead of the cons for a while. Unfortunately we ran into trouble."

Raising an eyebrow he demanded "What kind of trouble?"

"A Predacon along with some vehicon soldiers."

"A what?"

Ava sighed she was warned about this by Fowler. General Brice was not the type to believe in mystical properties or anything of that source. Hopefully she would be able to talk him through what a Precicon was without getting irritated by his skepticism.

Taking a deep breath she replied "Predacon." Then before he could even ask she continued "It is a cybertronian dragon, but unlike our mythological dragons. Apparently theirs exists." then added"I don't know much about them so I can't give you any information about them, just yet Sir."

"So, you're saying a dragon attacked you?" he asked in disbelief

"Yes, General, a cybertronian dragon. That's what a predacon is." she replied "Sir, no offence but you work with alien robots. A lot of things from their planet might not be able to be explained by our logic. I mean the Matrix of the Fallen, if someone who has not earned it or have it given to them by a Prime it busts into dust. Or the key to vector sigma, it's the city of the primes on Cybertron, You see only a Prime or someone who was chosen by a Prime can enter." she hoped she was not showing how irritated she was about his skepticism.

Nodding his head he asked her questions and she answered them to the best of her abilities, though she got either nervous or upset a few more times.

When Ava finally got out of the office, she walked straight to her former guardian. She felt that a few of the questions that General Brice asked, like when he questioned her about IronHide, were getting a bit personal in her opinion. When the weapon specialist saw her he smiled. When he saw his sparklings face it fell. He knew that she was going to have to answer questions about them, and what happened. For the others it was not as personal. At least in his opinion.

"Squirt, you okay?" He asked

"Fine Hide." She said as she got onto the hand he offered.

"You...you wanna talk."

"After all the talking I did earlier I think I what I wanna do is assist the team." She sighed sounding tired as she tried to hide a yawn.

"Think maybe a nap is more suited" The black painted bot said with a laugh. "Either that or heading to bed as it is getting late."

Lightly Ava slapped IronHide, but the smile that she showen made it clear that she was not upset. Adding to the fact that she laughed afterwards. Looking around she did not see her friends, she looked toward the other cybertronians to see if they knew where the others were.

"Where are the others?" She asked as she leaned against Hide's head.

Ratchet answered before anyone else "To the temporary living arrangements the government placed the people of Jasper. Carly dropped off a key for you to come in when you were done. Then again by the look of it you might fall asleep here."

With a laugh she agreed "It has been a tiring day, so what about the other Autobots?"

"Squirt, you worry too much you know that?" IronHide laughed

"I just wanna talk to Jackie." She mumbled tiredly "We haven't been able to talk... since the team got...back together.

"Sorry, but he and some others left to look for anything that might be left in our old base or around town that could be of use and is still functional." Ratchet replied.

"I'll take her home Ratch," he offered and left.

####

He next morning the children were walking around the new base getting used to the new location, and to help Ratchet organize the stuff that the other Autobots left behind before heading back out.

When a request for a ground bridge came a small group of the team came through.

"Not alot there Ratchet." Skids said

"Hey, Bulk," WheelJack yelled "Catch."

WheelJack tossed the ball to his friend, unfortunately Bulkhead was not fast enough to stop the lob ball from bouncing of of him and heading straight to where Miko and Ava were walking. Thankfully Jack shoved Miko and Ava out of the way before it could crush them. Ava was the first to rise as she stared wide eyed at the lob that almost squashed her and Miko, and trapped Agent Fowler in his office.

Jack assisted Miko off of the floor, and they both walked over to Ava.

When the shock of what almost happened faded, Bulk and Jackie ran over to where their charges were standing next to Jack. They only looked a bit scraped up but nothing too bad.

"Ava, kid, you alright?" WheelJack asked

"Miko?"

"Fine Bulk." she replied "Thanks Jack."

"No problem.

"Ava?" WheelJack asked his quiet charge wondering if she was alright.

"I'm alright WheelJack." Ava replied quietly and bent over to pick up the clipboard that she dropped"just hand the wind knocked out of me."

Flinching slightly at his charge using his full name and not the short version, he sighed; Ava might not have yelled at him but he could tell that she was mad at him. Looking over when the bridge opened again he knew that it was time to go back out and collect more stuff from the now abandon city.

When the bridge closed Ratchet turned to Ava and said "You don't have to hide it any more, Ava."

Before anyone could ask what the medic ment Ava limped over to the waiting hand and sat down. Ratchet carried her to the couch and sat her on it then added "When you shoved her out of the way Jack, she landed on her ankle wrong and said nothing about it because she did not want WheelJack to feel worse than he already does." Turning to Ava he told her "Judging by the fact that there is no swelling, I think you just rolled the ankle and it will be sore awhile. Sit for a few minutes and if it is not better then I will see if Nurse Darby can take a look at it."

"Thanks Ratch," Ava whispered

"Though he must know something is up on the account that you used his full name and not the shorter version you typically use with everyone except for Ultra Magnus."

"I know Ratchet."

###

When Optimus returned from a mission he dropped a skull on the table that looked cybertronian. The human children were currently on the catwalk observing the bone that Optimus brought back with him. "That's impossible!" Ratchet gasped

"What? What is it?" Skids and Mudflap asked "Ratchet what.."

"Stop talking and maybe he'd tell us." Ava snapped holding a wrench making the twins flinch, and wishing that they had not told her that she used to be Ratchet's helper and earned the nickname Hatchet Jr.

"It's a Predation bone." he answered

"You mean like that dragon con that we fought days ago." Miko asked

"Exactly like that." Ava added as she read the readings too.

"But that makes no sense." Skids said

"They extinct." Mudflap finished

The humans gasped in shock.

"Then tell me what an extinct predacon was doing fighting us." Agent Fowler said "That thing looked alive to me."

"What's a Predacon doing on Earth." Raf asked

"They were sent to guard energon deposits." Optimus said "Ones that were blasted off world.

"Predacons exist tested before we did." Elita added

"So it would be like us running into a dinosaur." Jack confirmed

"So what were Dinobots?" Miko questioned

"Different, completely different." Bulkhead stated

"They kinda look like creatures from our mythology." Jack noticed "And that Prediction was more like the mythological dragons."

"That is because your mythology could have been based on predictions" Ratchet explained

"If the decepticons are indeed looking for the remains of predictions we must find them before they do. We must become beast hunters." Optimus said

The next day the kids were found sleeping on the couches on the catwalk while everyone else was busy working. Agent Fowler walked in, and saw the children sleeping so he tried not to yell too loudly.

"The cons are heading to scotland for some reason." he replied "So pack your kilts."

"I will take the wreckers to scout it out." Magnus said with confidence and then stage whispered to Optimus his question "What's a kilt?"

"Agent Fowler often tries to keep moral by giving small jokes here and there, after he got used to checking in on us. Though the human children usually are unamused. If you truly wish to answer that question I suggest asking one of the human children."

###

Hours later they arrived in the area of where the decepticons were in. WheelJack started to climb down the mountain much to Ultra Magnus' displeasure. Bulkhead tried to keep them from fighting and giving reasons for WheelJack's approach. As they climbed down a vehicon came out of the tunnel.

"Wrecker fact about guards." WheelJack stated with a grin

"They never look up." Bulk finished

Bulkhead slipped a bit and a few rocks tumbled down and landed close to the con, looking up the Decepticon started to fire only to be tackled by Jackie as he used his swords, Bulkhead joining in after a few seconds. When they were surrounded Ultra Magnus started to fire at the cons, by the time it was over Magnus had joined he two. Confusing the other two when he walked over to a tall rock. The confusion was short lived when Bulkhead and Ultra Magnus saw Miko and Ava standing on the rock.

"Miko! Ava! What are you two doing here?" Bulk asked

"We wanted to help." Ava said

"Least I didn't heave on any floor mates this time." Miko remarked

"Try flying through the air when an autobot is in mid transformation from vehicle mode to robot mode, and then we'll talk." Ava countered

"Who was the bot?" Miko questioned

"One of the twins. Thankfully I was caught by another more responsible Autobot." Ava shrugged

Ultra Magnus walked toward the mouth of the cave and the two Autobots ushered their charges to follow them.

"Is this it?" Miko questioned

"No, that is just a rock." Magnus said after he turned around then sharpy turned back and walked forward.

Looking at the rock she tossed it almost hitting Ava by seconds.

"To be fair that rock did look like it could be the fossil." Ava said to Miko with a smile as she examined the rock on the ground.

Giving a weak chuckle Bulkhead tried to strike up a conversation "So, just like old times."

"I never needed permission to pick who I went on missions with, back then." WheelJack jabbed "You were smart to leave the wreckers when you did. Back when we were at our best. Back before the rust set in. When I pictured getting the team back together this is not how I imagined it." he added looking at Magnius.

"I thought WheelJack left the wreckers?" Miko questioned as Ava hurried on the ledge to catch up with her guardian.

"Not according to Jackie, he feels like I abandoned them. He left the wreckers after Ultra Magnus took over command, I left to join up with Optimus before then."

The cavern started to shake causing Miko and Ava to lose the footing and to be caught by their guardians. From around the corner, where they entered the cave the cybertronian dragon showed up.

"Move out." Ultra Magnus commanded

Quickly the three Autobots transformed and drove away. The predacon following close behind. Miko, popped her head out of the window of Bulkhead's alt. mode to look behind at the approaching con. Only to hope back in when the Predacon breathed fire at them.

"It breaths fire!" Miko shouted as they turned a corner

"Well; what did you think, mythological dragons breathed fire. If we based our myths on Predacons then why shouldn't he breathe fire." Ava called back.

Going through a tight cavern the con that was chasing them got stuck in the lower ceiling tunnels.

"That won't hold for long." Magnus said

"Miko, I need to get you out of here." Bulkhead told his charge

"No, I wanna help!" She complained stomping her foot

"You will, once you get out of here you will get to my ship and call Optimus for back up." Magnus said and Miko saluted him and started to climb up.

"Wreckers don't call for backup." WheelJack said

"They call for clean up. "Ava muttered with a smirk.

"Kid, we need to get you out of here too." WheelJack added

"No," Ava said

"Aves, someone needs to help Miko and you are the only human that knows how to read Cybertronian, not only that but if it comes down to it you will have to fly the ship." Jackie explained

"I'm not leaving you." She protested

"Back Miko up." He said "I have Bulk...and Ultra Magnus."

Nodding her head she climbed the rocks and caught up with Miko quickly, when they made it out they ran toward the ship. Only for the door to start to lower. Hiding behind a bolder the girls waited for the cons to leave.

"I trained that beast well and it listens to my every command." Starscream boosted

"Then why do you wear the apex armor." on of the vehicons asked

"Why do you still have it on now." another one asked

"I do not need the Apex armor, it is merely a tool to stop the fire it spats when it is being difficult." he said and then removed the relic placing it on a rock. "There, see."

Miko turned back to Ava a saw that she now had black fingerless gloves on that began at her knuckles and ended in the middle of her forearm. "What's that for?" she asked

"A distraction." She said "I'll distract the cons and you run for the controls."

"But Ava." Miko whispered "you can't those are fabric and no offence you will be more and likely to hurt yourself."

"These are special made gloves. Made from foam and thin titanium covered in fabric." Ava replied "Hide made them specifically for me when he came back. They are not cybertronian tech, All Earth tech and Earth science."

"But the Witwicky curse." She countered

Ava snorted, the others had started to refer to her way of attracting harm no matter what they were doing. "That only happens with random regular things. Once Decepticons are involved we are usually good to go." after a few second she added "After I go out there wait a few seconds and then make a break for the ship."

Running out there she started to toss rocks at the three cons and ran in circles "get her!" Starscream demanded

"What, can't get me yourself." she taunted she had practiced with IronHide when he had the time and knew the gloves worked. Now it was time to see how they worked in the field.

Starscream charged her and Ava got ready to attack, putting all her strength into her fist she swung it when the seeker got close enough. Her left hand made contact with the cons leg. She knew that Miko would be running to the ship now and she knew that after that hit Starscream would be upset. Unfortunately the seeker turned his head when Miko was on the landing pad of the ship to go up.

While running to avoid getting caught by the con some how Miko ended up hitting the Apex armor, activating it the armor transformed around her. Looking up Ava smiled and said "Well looks like the armor works for humans after all."

Unfortunately the Predacon dropped the bone in front of Starscream and started to attack Miko. While she was busy with the predacon Ava was trying to keep the others away from her. She had to wonder where the Autobots were.

When Miko was pinned down by the con and the beast realised his fire Ava froze. Starscream started to tease saying that the armor could not protect to weakest creatures. Miko opened her eyes hit the seeker and said "The suit protected you, didn't it?"

Then proceed to take on all three cons with Ava helping out and causing distractions for the decepticons. When the bots climbed out of the ruble and on top of the cave they saw the two human girls hold their own against the cons.

"Miko?" Bulkhead asked in shock

"Ava." Jackie asked in equil surprise.

"The Autobots are here RETREAT!" Starscream yelled

"Come back cowards!" Miko called out

The wreckers ran up to them as Ava sat on the ground taking slow deep breathes, she knew that if she did not slow her breathing down she might end up having an asthma attack, the smoke from the fire, and the dust from the fight had entered her lungs and she was glad that the Predacon had took off with the bone when it did, even if it meant that the decepticons got it. She did not know how

long she would have lasted if the beast had stayed. Her guess not long at all.

When they reached her the two guardians congratulated the two girls making them smile.

"You two fought like true wreckers, and I want to remember this monument." turning to Ultra Magnus and then looked back at the girls then added "Before the rust sets in." Then drove off.

"WheelJack." Miko called

"Let him go." Ultra Magnus said "Let's move soldiers."

"Wreckers!" Ava snapped "This is not the Elite guard. We are team Prime. Stop treating this like the Elite guard, Smokescreen is trained for that not all of us." Then walked off.

"Ava, get back here, its not safe." Bulk called

"Relax Bulkhead, I'm catching up to WheelJack." she said "Besides after that smackdown Miko gave them I don't think they would be back anytime soon." then started running calling after her guardian.

"You helped too." Mioko called, but Ava was too far away to hear. Miko looked at her guardian and Ultra Magnus with a sad look.

"Let's head back to base." Magnus said and the other two followed.

Hearing a bridge Ava started to run as fast as she could and saw WheelJack entering the bridge, she ran to step in only for it to close as soon as she got in front of it. Slowing down to a walk she waited a few minutes before calling Ratchet for a bridge.

When she exited the bridge she was met with an upset Medic. "I thought you were riding with Ultra Magnus." he said

"That rule book! No way." She said "I tried t catch up to WheelJack and almost made the first bridge, but it closed in my face."

Sighing he looked at her with sadness, and wondered what Ultra Magnus did to make her angry with him. Even though Ava was the more emotional one among their human friends rarely does she express anger. Even so she was getting better at hiding her emotions all that was left was to work on the look in her eyes. Her eyes still gave away what she was feeling, the medic knew that what had happened not even a week ago effected all of the children, and for Ava it seemed to have affected her emotions. The Autobots that were there before the destruction of their base saw subtle changes and some drastic ones.

"How about you see if IronHide needs help in the field." He sujusted "I'm sure he would love to see you, for some fun while there is down time. Perhaps introduce him to dune bashing"

"What about the rule book?" She asked then sighed "Ultra Magnus or Optimus?"

"Optimus would agree with me, and I am the Chief Medical Officer Ultra Magnus will have to deal with my professional medical option."

With a smile she said "You do know best, and know a lot more about humans then Ultra Magnus does." then called IronHide to see if she could join them while they looked through the wreckage.

After the week was over the others would join the beast hunters to look for artifacts or the bones and help out at the base.

###

Days turned into weeks that passed by, and life went on as normal as it could. Unfortunately the children were not allowed free time with their guardians and barely spent any time with them minus when they dropped and picked them up from school or the temporary homes they placed the citizens in. Other then that they were either helping Ratchet or playing old games.

One day that three of the four human kids were busy with their families or in Miko's case her host parents. Unfortunately Carly had to work so Ava was spending the day at the base. She was starting to wish she took Miko's offer to go to the mall with them. She might not like shopping that much, but it would beat having to deal with Ultra Magnus. IronHide took a small team to look for more supplies from the now ghost town that used to be Jasper, Nevada. The small team that was combing sectors for the Decepticons and Predacons were back to take a break and record their findings, she could not find WheelJack anywhere and was currently helping Ratchet out since Raf was not there.

She had to suppress a groan when the bot that took over command from Elita, walked in. She was second in command not him. She couldn't help but notice that she was not the only one annoyed by Ultra Magnus' leadership. Since he came he had been a big help to the Autobots; she tried to be as kind as she could towards him, but he treated her family like they were all Elite Guard training. Ava had tried to be as respectful to Ultra Magnus, minus when she broke-down she had, but he seemed to have already made up his mind about her.

When he came forward toward them she ignored the bot, if he wanted her attention she decided that he would have to call her name. He talked to Ratchet and when he mentioned synthetic energon her interest was pecked.

"Believe me Ultra Magnus, no one is more aware of the stakes then I am." Ratchet replied

Ava instantly knew that they were talking about the energon supply. While they had a decent amount at the old base, they barely had any now. The new stash, was low. According to Ratchet is was at its lowest, and with at least eleven bots, it would go fast. She also knew that their discussion had to do with the synthetic energon formula, the medic was always researching and working on that in his free time, now it was brought back up to priority one.

"How is the energon scavenging going?" Magnus asked "Any word from the field teams?"

When she did not answer Ratchet stepped in noticing her reaction "Ava?" When she looked at him he asked "Have you found anything."

"Not yet, though it would go faster if I had help." she said

"Would you like me to assist." Ratchet offered

"No, thanks Ratch. the synthetic energon formula is as important as this is." After a pause she added "Besides I'm also waiting for the others to all for a bridge."

When the acting leader stepped away Ratchet whispered "Ignoring him like that will not get him to like you any faster Ava, you are aware of that. Besides he is addressing you now, so give him some credit to trying."

"I do not need him to like me Ratchet. I will gain his respect eventually. I can't gain respect if I acted like him," She said "I know but...I need time Ratch." Turning around she smiled when she saw her current guardian enter the base. He was covered in coolant. The green color of the coolant looked like slime did. She knew he would walk over when he saw her and give her a quick greeting before heading off again. So she turned her attention back to looking for energon and waiting to activate the groundbridge again.

When WheelJack got scolded for leaving the base she stopped working and watched. She knew where he was and he was not off base, unless Magnus was referring to the building as the base, if so then she kinda understood where he was coming from. But he was fixing the ships, helping out the team. She did have to hold back her laughter at how ridiculous Jackie looked covered in the slime from working on the ships. Knowing that she would be next for a lecture from the acting leader. Hearing the sound of something flying all heads turned to the door, and a few seconds later Optimus walked in.

"Optimus is back." someone yelled

All the Autobots present surrounded the Prime, Ava jumped off of the Cybertronian computer and ran down the catwalk. Jumping down the last few of the stairs she tripped and tumbled to the ground, grunting after she hit the cement. A few seconds later she jumped up and ran to the leader of the team like nothing ever happened. Even though her knees where scraped up.

Optimus smiled at the welcome his team gave him giving them a summary of what he found out, when he saw Ultra Magnus alone stumbled over his words. The Witwicky child was surprised to hear the Prime hesitate. When Prime started to enter the base the others dispersed around the bunker. Ava trailed behind Optimus Prime and was promptly picked up by Ratchet who was passing by and sat her up high so he could get a look at her knees.

"Take it easy Ava, it might sting for awhile, fortunately it is only scrapped up. Just stay at the council for today." He commanded softly. Then placing her back at the groundbridge controls.

#####

When Optimus approached his Military commander he saw that he was looking out to watch the soldiers train.

"What is better than an army?" He asked "Does not matter what I do, I do not seem to be getting anywhere with them, and that girl has no respect for authority."

"While Ava is one of our most empathetic members if the team. She does hold respect for people and the Autobots, she grew up knowing a majority of us. A human saying goes 'if you want respect you got to show it.' All of our human allies shows us the utmost respect.

"Not all of them."

"Ava has shorter names for those whose name can be shorter, if she does that then it is her way of welcoming you to the team. Since she grew up with us we used shorter versions of our names so she could easily pronounce. She tends to stand up for those she cares about. As for your first question..."

Sirens went off preventing the Prime from finishing his sentence.

Ratchet had rushed over and Ava hoped out of the way.

"Optimus." Ava called then turned to see that the leader was already looking at them

"Optimus, we have detected unearthed energon. It could be a mine." Ratchet said

Walking towards them Optimus called his team together and told Ava to open a bridge to those coordinates the others went through as soon as the bridge appeared.

"Becarful." Ava whispered

As if he heard her Optimus nodded, the bridge closed as soon as the leader had entered it.

###

Ava had just closed the bridge for IronHide's team and had received the small gym-bag of stuff of hers from her totaled house. She decided to look at it later when they had down time. The bots had promised to send them with their guardians to collect some stuff that they could not get themselves that survived the blast. Though the never found the free time.

The computer beeped and Acree told them that they needed a ground bridge. Opening the bridge she smiled at the two decent cybertronian sized wheelbarrow full of energon. Bee told her through the radio that the others were on their way. Smokescreen and Bulkhead came in and told her to close the bridge. she quickly did so thinking that the Decepticons had started to attack and the got separated.

After a few minutes she asked "Where's WheelJack, Optimus and Ultra Magnus?"

"Optimus went to investigate why the entrance collapsed." Smokescreen said when he saw her reaction he added "Don't worry though, there are a few more entrances and the entrance we used was not covered up. I'm sure it was just a few Decepticons defending the mine." he sighed in relief when she visibly relaxed, she might have toughened up when she went dark with IronHide, but when one of the team was hurt or in trouble she became the softie that everyone knew her to be.

####

The predacon fought with vengeance, blaming both Ultra Magnus and WheelJack for the destruction of the other clones he called his brethren. They could only get a few good hits on him, before getting tossed. Each taking a turn fighting the con while the other was getting back on their feet. Making boulders fall on him in an effort to subdue the beast. They knew if the fight continued on like this they both would lose their lives. WheelJack was pinned by boulders and was hurrying as fast as he could to get out. Ultra Magnus started to crawl towards the empty forge of Solus Prime, he used as a weapon now. From up high in the cavern the con jumped down and landed on top of Ultra Magnus hand.

The commander of the Autobots cried out in agony as his hand was crushed underfoot of the dragon decepticon, who then walked over to the forge and broke it right before his eyes. He was about to give the finishing blow to the fallen commander when Optimus arrived shoving the Predacon into a wall and landing a few feet infront of his friend. After a brief fight Optimus knocked the dragon to the ground and picked up the wrecker and his unconscious commander, flying them out of the cavern that held Shockwave's hidden lab off theN emesis. Predaking was behind them and closing in fast. A ground bridge opened up and closed as soon as Optimus was through. The Predacon roared loudly, upset that his targets escaped destruction.

####

Ava ran to her guardian once she closed the bridge, and was picked up by Ratchet, she would patch up WheelJack while the medic took care of Ultra Magnus. She nearly screamed when she saw what happened to Ultra Magnus, but since she was tearing up her scream turned into a squeak. Closing her eyes she willed the tears away, right now getting emotional was not an option. Welding a few of the cuts and gashes that the cybertronian dragon's claws gave the wrecker she nodded her head to let him know she was finished. Once given a quick look over from Ratchet he approved and both WheelJack and IronHide worked together to help Ava keep calm. She was currently on IronHide's shoulders, tears falling from her eyes as she watched Ratchet mend the wrist closed.

Ultra Magnus grunted as he awoke and looked down to see Ratchet finishing up his welding. He looked around his surroundings to find that he was back at the base. He was about ready to question the others on what happened when he saw Ava's face as she sat on the weapons expert's shoulders. Her face was red and had tears dropping from her cheeks and chin. When his optics met her eyes he saw that they were red and puffy. Fear, relief, sorrow, he could see emotions swim through those blue eyes but that sad smile she gave him made the relief more promoted in her eyes. Making optic contact with Optimus he said "About our earlier discussion this morning about what is better than an army."

Optimus looked out at his team "A human concept that I learned over the years I've spent on Earth." He looked at Ava for a few seconds before giving his attention back to Ultra Magnus as the Autobots gathered around "Family."


	23. minus one

**Author's note:**

 **Warning this chapter is flashback heavy. Miko had some great one liners during the show, but her most quotable was what she told Starscream, after she got the Apex armor from him after the Predacon flew away and before she beat him in a fight.**

Scrounging up some parts Ratchet made a claw for Ultra Magnus, by the time he finished it and got ready to attach it to Magnus as the other children had arrived. Having already been given a short less graphic version of what had happened to the commander's hand, they watched as Ratchet welded the claw to the wrist of his patient.

"He fought like a true wrecker and here I am still with both of my hands." he sighed

Arcee smiled at him softly "Ultra Magnus still has two hands." she comforted "He is still able to fight."

Wheeljack nodded slowly and caught Ava's gaze, she was giving him a sad smile from where she sat. Half heartedly he returned her smile, when she looked away his frown returned. The twins tried to get the team to smile though it only lasted for a few minutes they eventually gave up. No one was feeling, up to laughing.

"Just wait the claw will be his signature weapon." Smokescreen said turning to BumbleBee he added "kinda like with you and that voice box Ratchet slapped in."

Bee looked at him like he wanted tear Smokescreen apart, but because the kids were there he stomped away. Growling and buzzing angrily as he stomped off.

"Whoa." Miko said in surprise. Never having seen BumbleBee act like that before.

"What'd Bee say?" Jack asked

Raf was unsure if he should translate to the others what BumbleBee had muttered, since the bots did not translate he decided to summarise what he said "Bee likes the sound of his old voice, his original one."

Everyone jumped at the sound of metal hitting metal and looked to where the sound originated from. Smokescreen was rubbing his head glaring in the direction of where the human children were standing. Following his gaze all of their optics landed on the their human allies who were all staring at the brunette with shock, as if they saw what happened. The twins were the first to figure out what happened. The others were not that far behind in releasing Ava had tossed something at Smokescreen.

"Hatchet Jr, has officially returned." Skids stated with a small laugh

"What just happened?" Magnus asked

"It is best you do not ask, old friend." Optimus sighed as he watched Ava's glare fade.

While Ratchet assisted Magnus in getting used to his new appendage the children got to work, helping out around the base. Optimus was standing off to the side watching the group work, soon Elita joined his side. neither of them said anything. Elita smiled and thought back to when she came back to Earth.

##FLASHBACK##

IronHide's ship had landed in a desert, the medium sized ship opened up. When they exited Elita was happy to see her sister, Arcee had headed back to Cybertron before they left for space. The blue motorcycle seemed to brighten up at the site of her two sisters. The three girls hugged, the strain of being away from each other for too long was painful. Smiling at Optimus, Elita was glad that the team was together again.

"So, what has happened since we left?" Elita asked

*"A lot has happened. Three other humans found out about us and we had a small reunion."* Bee Buzzed

"Who were the humans that found out." 'Mia asked

"Bee and I got spotted by two boys named Rafael and Jack. Then when I was convincing Jack to speak to Optimus I was spotted again by Miko." Arcee explained "After the meeting the kids got assigned Autobot guardians."

"Arcee, BumbleBee and myself took on the roles and later on Jackie took on a role as guardian." Bulk added

"So perfect Arcee and BumbleBee made a mistake." Skids and Mudflap joked earning a glare from the two.

"We will have time to tell our returning team about what has come to pass in their absence." Optimus Prime stated "I believe it would be wise to continue this discussion at the base."

When the ground bridge they all entered, once inside Optimus added "Like BumbleBee stated we did have a small reunion."

"With who?" Chromia asked

The look in Bee's optics made IronHide smile. "So, Squirt's back" he laughed

##Flash back ends####

Snapping out of her thoughts Elita turned to Optimus who had put a servo on her shoulder, smiling at the leader she waited to see if he wanted to say anything to her. When he said nothing she lightly brushed his servo off and asked "You okay?"

"To be honest I am worried about our human allies. I Know that they are safe, but for how though I wish that they were not this far in our war. I know they helped out greatly. Every time one of them assists us, they go farther into our war."

The pinkish purple bot nodded, having been told what Miko said to Starscream, during their battle in scotland

####FlashBack###

Starscream approached Miko, she was still in the Apex armor. Ava paused she had froze when the predacon entered the fight. The gloves might be able to allow her to fight Decepticons, but it did not make her fire proof.

"Looks like the Apex armor can not even protect the weakest of creatures." he taunted, acting like he was the who defeated her.

Punching him in the stomach Miko remarked "The suit protected you didn't it?" Then proceed to toss him over to where the two other cons were.

"You runt. I extinguished CliffJumper's spark. Do you really think I can be defeated by a mere child." he said as if he said he killed an autobots that she would run.

"Big deal," She said sarcastically then became serious her voice dripped with venom "I snuffed out the spark of Hardshell."

That made Starscream hesitate a bit but he called for the two that was with him to attack and he went after Miko, forgetting that another human was there. With a small smirk Ava stated to help out again, this time fighting and not only hitting them when their attention was somewhere else. Though Miko did a majority of the fighting.

When the Cybertronian Autobots arrived they ran away leaving the group of Autobots there.

###Flash Back ends####

Elita had to smile at the way Miko had told what happened when they all were gathered for the night, she even convinced Ava to tell it from her perspective. It was funny to watch the child talk about how she assisted Miko in fighting off the cons. When she talked she made it seem like it was not a big deal, and yet blushed when Miko, Bulk or WheelJack told her otherwise. Even when Magnus said that both of them did addiquit.

She looked at the human children and watched as Ava and Raf were assisting Ratchet and Miko and Jack were training a bit for emergencies. Looking back at Optimus she laughed "I don't think that we have to worry as much, the children seem to be able to take care of themselves. nothing will happen to them."

"What makes you so sure." the prime asked

"Optimus, they are safe, I know because you are looking for every way to keep them safe, you never relax, well never to rarely." Elita said "Whenever we get a signal you give the jobs out you give each of our human allies. Might be ones in the base but it makes them feel like they are helping. That and you know where they are. Your first instinct is to drop everything and to protect them if they do sneak into battle." she listed

Optimus said nothing but a small smile appeared, he knew that it was true. Raf would be at the bridge, Miko at the coms, Jack would be tracking the team(s), and Ava would get the usual tools ready, and be ready to assist Ratchet. The jobs usually switched daily so no one would get bored working. Turning his gaze to the four human children. They all had grown up, over the year that they knew them. When they turned to look at the kids again they were having a high kick contest. Raf got half way off the floor, Jack got two thirds of the floor, Miko the same and when Ava tried she hit herself in the face with her knee, and fell backwards. Surprising the Autobots who feared she might have hurt herself again. When she sat up and started to laugh the human children joined in.

Chromia shook her head, this was not the first time Ava had a klutz attack and ended up getting mildly hurt. She has fallen down (and up) the stairs. Tripped on flat surfaces, fallen from the beams when she went to get a ball that got stuck up there. Falling off of the railings, falling from Ratchet's computer. Basically if someone can fall off it Ava has done it. At least twice. Watching the girl get back to her feet they went back to what they were doing before the humans decided to stretch a bit.

####

"How is the formula for the cyber matter coming along?" Megatron asked

Shockwave not looking up from his work replied "It would be illogical to continue on without the stabilized form of synthetic energon."

Megatron nodded having seen what it could make and being too eager to get ahold of it before the Autobots find out.

##Flashback ##

Starscream, Megatron and Shockwave stood looking at the remains f the latters lab. The rocky cavern was now full of jagged metal coming up in all directions like someone had dropped it there.

"It seems as though synthetic energon and cyber nucleic acid together make a form of cyber matter." Shockwave explained as he analyzed the metal.

"Then get to work!" Megatron snapped

"We do not currently possess the formula for synthetic energon." the one eye decepticon countered

"The autobots do. It would be illogical to continue."

"It would be hard to capture the only Autobot that never leaves their base." Starscream complained "The human brates are out more then he is."

"Starscream. It would be best if you stayed silent considering that you were beat by two of the Autobot's pet humans." Megatron yelled

"They had the Apex armor. I sat it down and they took it."

" **ONE** had the armor the other did not!" the war lord snapped "You are lucky the predacon was able to get the bone, otherwise I would not have overlooked you getting beat up by two humans, and losing the Apex armor." he then motioned for them to fallow him to the ship.

##Flashback ends##

Optimus and his team had returned from their mission and had brought Soundwave along with them. The deception was unconscious and was then strapped in so that no harm would come to the team's huaman allies. When he woke up the first thing he did was attempted to get up, realizing he was being held down he looked around. Soundwave saw that he was in the Autobots base and stared at the human children, he was shocked that they would allow them to be this close to a decepticon, not just any con one of Megatrons top loyal soldiers. Moving forward Optimus demanded to know what Megatron was planing with the stuff he stole from the humans. Receiving no reply he asked again.

"Why are we attempting to question the cons servaline chief?" Jack asked

Miko looked at the trapped con and asked "Does he even have a voice."

"Whenever he talks Soundwave usually takes bits and pieces of what he hears and has recorded." Arcee said answering Miko's question

"Looking back at the con she smirked "Woah, freaky."

"Did something happen to his voice?" Raf asked with a bit of concern.

None of the Autobots knew what to say. Rumors had turned u during the war to tell people why Soundwave does not talk. THey decided not to bring it up around the con, deciding to tell them the rumors that were told later on.

"What is Megatron Planning?" Optimus asked

Getting fed up with the stubbornness Ratchet decided to use a threat to get the con to talk "Optimus, this is not getting us anywhere allow me to open his up for the information we seek."

The human children jumped at the treat unsure if he was being serious or not. Looking back at the con information, was scrolling past on the visor and Ratchet smirked, but then it fell once he realized what was going on.

"All right, he's giving up the info." Miko cheered

"No, he's not." Ava spoke, at the same time as Ratchet, looking at Soundwave.

"Soundwave is shutting down his hard drives." Ratchet yelled as ran to the con only to stop in shock.

"Soundwave superior, Autobots inferior." Soundwave spoke then pasted out.

"Whoa, did he just..." Miko asked

"That was Soundwave's voice." Optimus confirmed

"He's a youngling." Ava whispered in awe.

No one said anything, but she received a nod in confirmation from the medic. The other three looked at her in confusion, they knew that since Ava grew up with the Autobots she grasped their language barriers faster than they did.

"Go home and rest." Elita said "It is getting late and we will need all the help we an tomorrow."

Without any questions the four kids left the base.

####

Lazerbeak had arrived back at the nemesis's with the information that Soundwave had been captured. Making Megatron upset that he was captured. Soundwave might be a youngling, but he was skilled in fighting at very smart. He was the only one who accomplished anything Megatron asked of him, without question.

Soundwave was older then the Autobot scout, and by human standards be known as a young adult. Megatron wanted his trusted surveillance chief back. He would have prefered if Starscream had been captured instead.

"Perhaps this is good. We can now get the Autobot medic." Knockout said

"How would we do that the medic does not leave the base, and their base is heavily cloaked" Starscream demanded

Megatron stared at the two and thought, before he could question his medic on his plan he reminded Starscream of something.

"True, but we have Lazerbeak and Soundwave and Lazerbeak are connected, he will be able to find the base, and then give Soundwave his new orders." the con explained.

#####

Smokescreen sighed the kids were not at the base right now, Miko, Raf, and Jack had left with IronHide and his team so they could help look for energon and Ava was at an appointment for her eyes. The team that was left had broken off into two small groups leaving bulkhead with Ratchet and Agent Fowler stayed at the base to work on the paperwork he had to do.

Agent Fowler had walked into the main base to check up on the bots, and to get a little exercise. It had been awhile since the children left, and had been a long time since the base was this quiet. With the four children and a team of new bots. The base was always loud, it was nice to get a bit of quiet.

Fowler was just finishing his rounds when Lazerbeak broke through the window, shooting the easily fighting Autobots there and getting a piece blasted off of him by Smokescreen. Then blasting the restraints off and then reconnecting to Soundwave. The communications officer downloaded the commands and the revive code and sat right up. Getting off the table Soundwave made his way to Ratchet tossing around Bulkhead and Smokescreen and swiping Agent Fowler away. Walking slowly to the Autobot medic. Once he got close enough he took out his cables and tased Ratchet and left carrying him through a bridge. Leaving two past out Autobots in the middle of the room and an unconscious agent.

Once Soundwave made it back to the ship he tossed the autobot medic in a cell with his arms bound still knocked out cold.


	24. Good-Bye

When the kids got to the base they noticed something was up. The bots were acting odd and Optimus was the one in the medbay area instead of Ratchet. Slowly getting out of their guardians' vehicle modes they looked around. They saw Smokescreen sitting on a table freshly patched up. Taking a closer look at Bulkhead they saw that he too was patched up. They knew it made no sense considering that they were at the base.

Jack looked over at Ava who looked like she was trying not to show how worried she was, they could not find Ratchet.

"Where's Ratchet?" Miko asked

"Soundwave took him." Smokescreen said bluntly earning him a glare from Chromia.

The children gasped and Ava covered her mouth, her eyes watered. Rafael was close to tears as well and ran off in the opposite direction that the others were standing. They watched him run off not knowing' what to say.

Jack was the first to speak "H-How did this happen?"

"Lazerbeak, tracked Soundwave and re-activated him. Beat us up and then made a grab for Ratchet." Bulkhead explained.

"Why would the Cons want Ratchet, they already have Doc Knock as a medic." Miko questioned

Jack thought a minute and looked at the computer in the medbay that Ava now occupied. According to everyone who was on Earth when Ava was younger told them that she was trained a bit in how to help them out. The best she could do was patch jobs and minor things. So it was the best they could have at the moment. He had to think what does Ratchet know that Knock ut wouldn't. Nothing came to mind besides the location of the Autobots base, but Soundwave already knew its location.

#####

Ratchet woke up in the brig of the Decepticon warship, his arms were bound, but he was able to walk around. Sitting up he got to his feet and looked around the room to see if he could find a way to escape. The doors to the brig opened to reveal Megatron Glaring at the him Ratchet stood his ground, and said nothing.

Megatron smiled at Ratchet "I see our guest has awakened."

"What is it that you want Megatron." Ratchet demanded

"Only the formula for synthetic energon." the war lord replied

"If you think I am giving you cons the formula for endless supplies of energon you're crazier than I thought."

"I do not need you to tell me, not when we have the cyber patch." Megatron smirked

An hour later Ratchet was back in the cell with his hands re-bound together When he woke up, he was greeted by the doors opening again. This time Megatron was being accompanied by Starscream and Soundwave.

"Didn't find what you were looking for, you wouldn't be here if you did." Ratchet snapped with a smirk.

Megatron resisted the urge to hit the Autobot medic "It seems as though what I seek does not exist yet. I would like you to continue your research on Synthetic energon."

"Like I said before I would never give the ones who destroyed countless of lives infinite amount of energon." Ratchet had recapped

Megatron tried another tactic "Past alliances does not matter any more. Autobot or Decepticon. Not with Cybertron gone and we have a way to return home."

"What do you mean?" Ratchet questioned Megatron

"We have figured out that a combination of Cyber Nucleic Acid and Synthetic energon mixed together creates Cyber Matter. It is unstable at the second but with the completed formula we should be able to combined them and create a stable form of Cyber Matter."

"Work with the one that destroyed BumbleBee's voice box and ruined countless of peoples live!" he yelled "Out of the question."

"Then perhaps this will motivate you." the warlord smirked

Turning his gaze to the three Decepticons before him he almost gasped at what he saw. Raf, Jack and Miko were on the screen along with a solo picture of Ava beside that.

Smirking Starscream said to Soundwave "Humans are always the weak link."

"Are these humans supposed to mean anything to me." he stated coldly and had to hie the guilty feeling he felt when he denied that he cared about them.

Megatron narrowed his optics and then waved for his communications officer to move to the next picture. A the image of their current base appeared on the screen.

"Since those humans meant nothing then perhaps this might. I will not destroy your base if you help me with the formula. Help restore Cybertron and be held as a hero. Restoring Cybertron to its former glory."

"Alright I'll do it." he consented hoping that if he worked he could by them some time. Then Just maybe take the new Omega lock over with the other Autobots and use it themselves.

When the cons left Starscream had asked "Are you really going to let the Autobots go?"

Glaring at Starscream he hist "No, I only said that so he would work for us." calming down a bit he added "Assemble your armada and go destroy the Autobot base a second time."

Leaving Starscream too his team and headed for building E

####

The human children had decided to help out more now that Ratchet was kidnapped by the cons and wanted to help get him back. Raf had still run off alone and Elita had left to see where he went. Since the cons knew where their base was they were anticipating an attack by them. They wanted to have everyone close by incase of an attack.

"Hey Raf." she said softly "We could use you back a base. Besides it is not safe to be out here."

Turning around Raf looked to see Elita standing behind him with a small sympathetic smile. "Oh, hi Elita."

"Come back to base." She offered

"Ratchets gone." Raf sighed

"We don't know that." she replied "yes, he is taken by the Decepticons, but he there is a chance that he could be alive."

After a few minutes of discussing the Raf was convinced to return to the base. A few of the boys left the base much to the confusion of the human children. When they came back in it was an hour later, into a semi-shut down base. The human children sat close by their guardians as Optimus finished shutting down the base.

"Whats going on!" Miko demanded

"Sh, Miko." Jack hushed

The group of Autobots stood far from the windows and doors, discussing if the human children should be bridged out or not. they were too busy talking to notice the human children walk slowly to the window. Optimus was the first to noticed that they were gone, but quickly found them and brought them back to the center of the base. Only stopping when one of them spoke.

"Optimus whats going on?"

Sighing the Prime looked at them and finally noticed the look on their faces. It hurt him to see the mixture of pain, fear, and sadness. The way it blended with determination, hope, and bravery added onto the pain that filled his spark. He knew that they were afraid not only for their lives but the lives for his old friend and fellow Autobots. They were terrified and yet they seemed determined to stay to help. He disliked seeing his human allies like this, the fact that they were just children enraged him even more, in his opinion no child should have to deal with this or even have that look in their eyes.

Before it actually broke him emotionally he turned his head and sighed again. Saying something that put them on even more of an edge then they were already. "I do not know."

He did not go into much details not wanting to bring more terror to them and hoped that they were able to get to sleep before the cons come. His hopes were shattered when the base rumbled because the building behind them exploited. The shaking caused the humans to fall of the league that they were standing on, getting caught by Optimus who had a slightly noticeable relief in his optics that they were safe.

"IronHide you're in charge, if we fall take the children and the others to a safe place." Optimus commanded and ran out incase the cons decided to land. Hoping that they just think that they were just not in their base.

The group of bots that followed Optimus were Arcee, Bulkhead, Smokescreen, Ultra Magnus and WheelJack. The team that went with Ironhide and the young scout stayed behind with the human children.

Outside the base the older bots surveyed the damage, glad that their was not fight afterwards.

Deciding to joke about it Smokescreen said "The mess hall is a mess, is that why its called mess hall?"

Ignoring the poor joke the others watched as the humans put out the fire with slight relief.

It is a good thing that the Decepticons can be fooled with something as simple as a quick a paint job." Magnus said

The grayish white paint washed off with the water that was putting out the flames to reveal that Starscream and his armada had destroyed the empty Building F instead of the Autobot base in Building E. They stood there awhile and waited till the flames were all put out and when people went to look for salvageable materials. After a few hours WheelJack felt something knock on his foot, looking down

WheelJack gasped in surprise causing the others to look in his direction and they saw the human children along with Elita and BumbleBee following them.

"What happened?" Ava half asked half demanded in a low whisper.

"We coned the cons." WheelJack said hoping to ease the tension.

"Cool! How did you do that?" Miko questioned jumping beside Ava, making the brunette jump in surprise.

"Switching building E and F around. So that they would hit the mess hall instead of our base." Bulkhead said simply.

"I'm guessing that's what you guys were doing." Jack stated "Making sure the mess hall was cleared out and no one was going in."

"Now it is time to go to the next part of the plan." Arcee said with a smile

"What plan?" Raf asked

"To get Ratchet back." Optimus stated

######

On the warship ratchet was taken to the lab that Shockwave and Knockout worked, Megatron showed up not that long after the Autobot medic showed up. Watching as the medic looked over the lab.

"As you can see with our decepticon engineering you should have the formula done in no time and save Cybertron." Megatron said sounding calm and friendly.

Ratchet nodded slowly a little creeped out that Megatron was treating him like they were old friends. 'If I can get the formula for Shockwave's Cyber Nucleic Acid, he would not need to work with the Decepticons to save Cybertron. He could scrap the formula for the synthetic energon on the Con's mainframe and go back to the Autobots with the information and they could save Cybertron. Megatron would not be apart of restoring Cybertron to its former glory, and Earth would be safe.' he thought

Ratchet got to work with little conversations with the Decepticons there. Once Megatron left the medic was getting ready to put his plan into action, he just needed to be alone, after he found the location of either the formula or a sample of the concoction.

#####

Raf was typing away at his laptop with Jack and Miko watching him in surprise. Neither of them said anything for a while till they could not take it anymore.

"Raf you can actually understand that. You can read it?" Jack asked

Miko to hide her surprise decided to joke "He understands BumbleBee ad he can read Cybertronian.

Are we sure raf is not from Cybertron too."

"Rachet was teaching me...when he had the time." Raf said softly and had to pause to keep from crying.

Jack's eyes widened at the realization at his conversation with Ava a few months back. She had used the word 'we'. He assumed that the girl was talking about her dad and not Rafael.

While the two resumed to watch Raf work on decoding the piece of Lazerbeak that broke off the Autobots were having a discussion. The discussion lasted a while until they heard a crunch. Turning around towards the sound, they were n time to See Raf yell at Mio something that made him sound just like Ratchet.

"HUHH! MIKO I NEEDED THAT!"

Jak when straight to comforting Rafael "Calm down Raf, we'll find him dont worry."

Ava had walked over from the med bay, she was going to be taking care of the patch jobs till they rescued Ratchet and made sure he was able to get back to work. She walked over to raf and gently pulled the chair he was sitting on away from his laptop and said in a stern voice. "Take a break and take a breathe." When Raf tried to get by her she stopped him and added "You can not work under too much stress and right now you are stressing too much. Ratchet would not appreciate to hear that he was rescued because you ran yourself ragged. So TAKE A BREAK!"

"Chill out Hatchett Jr. " Skids said

Mudflap added onto what his twin said "Yeah, stop getting over worked and calm down otherwise HAtchet Jr, will be as trigger happy as IronHide."

He wisely chose not to add an insult to Ratchet fearing getting yelled at by everyone present.

Their comments got them smacked in the heads by a couple of wrenches. Tossed by Ava with a glare.

"One shut up, Two Raf needs to calm down in order to think properly, and Three GO DO SOMETHING PRODUCTIVE!" she yelled and then turned her attention back on making sure Raf took a small brake.

All the Autobots were surprised that quiet Ava would scream like that. It had been awhile since a Witwicky had gotten mad at an Autobot. Even then Ava rarely yelled, Ratchet being taken was also affecting Ava too. In fact it was affecting everyone.

#####

Ratchet waited and worked on the synthetic formula. He needed to wait for the perfect opportunity to get what he needed. Knockout had gotten another sample of the C.N.A for Shockwave and one had gotten caught in the door. No one was watching so he slowly creeped to the door to try to yank it free. Unfortunately Knockout caught him as he was looking at the formulas

"What is it?" THe red medic demand

Thinking quickly "I..I do not see the isoto-prode."

Rolling his eyes Knockout mumbled "What a big surprise." then went to get it for the Autobot medic.

Turning back to the half free Cyber Nucleic Acid container he grabbed it and tried to yank it free. He knew he had a short time and continued to pull. Putting his foot on the wall he yanked again for it to finally come free and for the door to close after the obstruction was gone. Thankfully Knockout had turned around when that happened and Ratchet had already hidden it behind his back.

"You need anything else?" He offered with annoyance.

"No" Ratchet said quickly and then added "Thank you."

Surprised by the gratitude the Autobot medic showed but no the less happy he got some appreciation for what he does he smiled kindly at Ratchet and said pleasantly "You're Welcome." And walked off with a slight smile.

It took awhile But Ratchet was done with the formula he finished unfortunately he could not find out about the other half of the formula. Since he knew the formula Ratchet quickly scrambled the formula unfortunately he was caught as he tried to escape.

After being called out by Megatron Ratchet questioned why Megatron did not off line him and he said that he had someone else to do that. He saw that Soundwave was currently unscrambling the formula. Tossing him into a room Ratchet saw himself face to face with Predaking. The fight between Ratchet and the ancient cybertronian was one sided. Ratchet was being tossed all over the room and he slightly welcomed the blows. Once he found out that Megatron was not only going to restore Cybertron but Cyberforum Earth he felt that he betrayed the Autobots and deserved the offlining.

"Do you feel helpless Autobot because that is exactly what my brethren felt like when you destroyed them.

That caught Ratchet off guard. He wondered when did they destroy a bunch of predictions and then remembered when Ultra Magnus and WheelJack stumbled upon Shockwave's lab and had accidentally set off an explosion. That must have been what he was talking about, and when Knockout's side comment about tricking the Autobots into destroying the lab filled with the predacon clones.

"If you wish to exact revenge for your kind do not stop with me." Ratchet said with energon slightly running from his lip. "Keep avenging all the way to Megatron the one you are loyal too."

"You are lieing to me about Megatron." he yelled

"We were following an energy signature. We did not know we would stumble upon Shockwave's lab."

"LIES, it could not be a coincidence that you found them." the Predacon

Ratchet sat up "That is because it was not. Megatron planted that energon in that tunnel knowing that we would investigate. We stumbled upon that lab merely by chance and was tricked into doing Megatrons dirty work for him."

"Why would he do that?" He questioned

Standing up he wiped the energon from his lip that had stop bleeding energon. "After witnessing your strength first hand. My guess is that he fears you, and ay like you."

Stepping away from Ratchet Predaking yelled "MEGATRON!" and tore through the war ship.

#####

By morning Raf had finished what he was doing and everyone had gathered in front of the Autobot Base.

"Shouldn't we have put a tracker on it" Miko questioned "That way we know where it is?"

"Can't the cons would find it. WheelJAck said with a saddened tone.

Slightly annoyed Arcee added Both sides have been getting good at finding where those are hidden."

"Beside we don't need one." Jack stated

"We got Optimus following it." Ava finished sounding a bit like old herself.

Before he left he looked around "Ratchet would be proud of all of your contributions, especially yours Rafael." Optimus said causing the young boy to lightly blush and hide behind the controler.

"Won't they see you coining big guy?" Miko questioned with a worried tone.

Arcee shook her head "By the time they realized it, it would be too late."

Launching it Raf set the thing on autopilot and after a brief good bye the prime started to follow the Lazerbeak impersonator. Keeping a close eye on the device at all times.

######

The computers beeped alerting to them that someone was approaching the ship. That signal belonged to Lazerbeak.

"After reading it Megatron questioned Starscream "Starscream. you did destroy the Autobot base?"

"Of course I did." After a pause he added "Why do you ask."

"We just got a signal that Laserbeak is on rout."

"That is impossible Laserbeak is with Soundwave inside his torso."

"If that is true then it would be an Autobot trick, but how could they do that with out the tools from their base."

"Allow me to double check." Starscream said and ran out of the room

#####

Optimus was fallowing Raf device as he looked for the Warship, When Starscream came out of nowhere and shot down their one chance at finding Ratchet. Following Starscream proved impossible because he was bridged away. Optimus stayed there floating for a minute as he tried to get his feelings together. Ratchet was an old friend of his and he hated the fact that he did not know of the health of his closest friend aside from Elita.

####

Ratchet having escaped PrediKing's wrath, he was looking for a computer to get the others on board, finding one he quickly made contact with his fellow Autobots.

Is anyone there." Ratchet asked

"Ratchet." Optimus said and everyone could tell the relief that was in the Prime's voice.

"I undid the clocking so you can find the ship." Ratchet explained

"Autobots get ready to storm the base." Optimus said over the com unit and flew off towards the coordinates provided by ratchet.

Ultra Magnus got the team together with some of the relics that they collected and they ground bridged to the warship. The fighting started right away and they split off into groups the wreckers ran toward the bridge, the team the consisted of Arcee, bumbleBee and Smokescreen went to the new Omega lock.

The wreckers were quickly defeated by Soundwave and Smokescreen left them to get something from the vault.

While Bee and Arcee were fighting the cons and Ratchet was facing off against the one optic decepticon Optimus faced off against megatron and Smokescreen came running through the halls carrying the Star Saber.

###

"Can you get me in there?" Jack asked Raf

"Sure now that I have the coordinate," realising what he was thinking he added "But you can't stand against Soundwave."

"Looking at the girls he said "I will with back up?"

The girls looked at eachother in confusion and nodded.

####

Soundwave was piloting the ship and turned around when a groundbridge opened up. Much to the surprise of him and the cons guarding him. The boy smirked and yelled "Surprise, surprise."

Miko jumped through the groundbridge wearing the Apex armor and Ava came charging out of the bridge swinging a bat she had brought with her and had her gloves on that IronHide had given her.

"Raf Now." Jack whispered into his phone when he saw that Soundwave was attempting to put Miko and Ava into a bridge.

##

"Jack are you sure?" Raf questioned "You know what happened last time this happened, remember."

###

"Do it." Jack said "Now".

A bridge appeared behind Soundwave causing him to get sucked in and Jack and Ava were lifted off the ground only to be saves by Miko who was going nowhere.

Miko taunted Soundwave about being trapped in the ShadowZone while she put down Ava and Jack. Unknown to them that Soundwave was swyping at them unable to get a hit on them.

"Ava you are the only one of us that can fly this ship and read Cybertronian take the wheel." Jack said as Miko helped them the the controls. A few hard turns and Ava got the hang of piloting the Warship instead a a smaller ship. It was a mixture of driving a car, flying WheelJack's ship and IronHide's ship. On the video surveillance they watched what was going on at the makeshift Omega lock.

#####

When Smokescreen arrived the battle had gotten ugly. He knew that he needed to get the sword to Optimus and fast. Running through the battle he made it halfway before the cons caught up to him and attacked him. It was a mad dash to get to the sword. Arcee was nocted down by Starscream letting, making it easier for BumbleBee to get to the sword first. He ran and when he was close to the edge he jumped.

The fight between Megatron and Optimus momentarily paused and took aim at the scout and fired. It was a line of amo going after the young Autobots hitting him directly n the chest, Right where his spark was. the sparkless husk fell from the sky dropping the Star Saber ion the ground and splashing into the pool of Cyber matter. the Scout's optics flickered from his usual bright light blue optics to a dull blue and finally the life faded out of those cheerful optics as he sunk lower and lower into the pool until he was completely consumed by it.

Every Autobot looked a mixture of horror and shock.

###

"BUMBLEBEE!" Ava screamed a few hundred tears poured out of her eyes as she watched Bee slowly die and sink to the bottom of the Omega lock.

####

Optimus was livid. BumbleBee was his youngest warrior and only a child. Trying to keep his emotions under control her tried to calm himself. The recent death of Bee was fresh in his mind. the second Megatron started to laugh, Optimus finally snapped.

Jumping up he hit Megatron harder than he has ever hit him before. This time Megatron crossed the line. Unlike before, this time he was not going to get away, this time Optimus would not let his compassion over ride what he should have done along time ago. By the end of today Optimus vowed that Megatron would die.

####

The human children stared at the scream in the same manner that they took Bee's death in. Horror and shock. They Were shocked to see Optimus give in to his emotions. But there were horrified by the prime's anger. The level headed prime was letting his emotions get the better of him and finally showed his emotions. For once the children were scared of Optimus Prime.

Something clicked for Ava a few seconds after the fear clicked in. Numerous of Autobots died what about Bee made Optimus loose it when he died. A few thoughts came to mind 'he was the youngest among them,' 'Bee was the last youngling,' 'Bee was just a child,' Her tear filled eyes widened at the last answer. It made the most sense giving how Optimus was acting.

#####

Optimus beat Megatron up so that he had dents all over his frame. Optimus was about to give the final blow but was blasted away from Megatron by the Dark sabor. walking over to Optimus Megatron laughed "Prepare to join your fallen scout Prime." before he made the final blow someone called his name

"MEGATRON!" Turning around he was stabbed through his decepticon symbol and his spark. He was shocked to see that it was the very bot he had killed not that long ago. His voice was healed and he did not seem to have noticed it yet. to prove this to he added "You took my voice, you robbed a child of their father. You will never take anything from anyone ever again." his voice healed venom that surprised the others.

Megatron fell to his death and Optimus was debating on going to get him, when he looked up he took the offered hand of his scout. Together they climbed up the the top and Bee was given shocked looked

"B-BumbleBee." Ratchet started

"Your v-v-voice." Arcee finished in aw

"My voice? What are you..." he realized he had be actually talking to the others. "Ratchet I have my voice back."

He ran over and hugged the medic with joy. Ratchet smiled to a patted the young scout's head

"Seems so." he laughed

Putting a hand on the medic's shoulder Optimus smiled softly "It seems as if our field medic had done some good after all."

After some discussion they decided to make use of the new Omega lock that was now in their control. By restoring Cybertron, and since Ratchet could not learn the formula for Shockwave's half of the Cyber Matter and Cybertron was a bigger planet than Earth they would shoot it straight into the core of the planet.

Walking away from the others and counted for Raf for help "Hey Raf, tear yourself away from your laptop for a second and come help us get to Cybertron already."

####

Raf and Agent Fowler were stunned, not recognizing the voice that was calling them from the coms. They knew that it needed to be someone on Team Prime fr whoever it was to know Raf and to know that he would usually stay cooped up at the base with his laptop.

"What?" Fowler questioned "Who...Who's that?"

After a few seconds something clicked "BumbleBee." he replied in aw, his eyes widening with happiness and shock.

####

After getting to the Warship Raf opened a space bridge while Ava piloted the ship through it, reaching Cybertron. Miko thought the planet was cooler than the model that Ratchet had made her create for the science fair. Taking a picture she turned around to see the WheelJack had taken over piloting the ship since Ava did not know where to go.

Once they got to the well of Allsparks the guardians moved a bit closer to their charges and the same went for the children. they watched as Optimus and Ratchet worked together to prepare the Omega lock when it was done Optimus fired the Omega lock straight into the core of the planet. All of them watching as light was restored to the planet.

#####

Going back to Earth to drop of the children and pick up the others the team. They gathered the personal items that they had gathered and started with their good byes to the friends they had made.

Miko had trudged over to Bulkhead and sat down on his foot crying, all Bulkhead could say was "Miko." as he used his finger to lightly pat Mikos hair ,only to get hugged by the crying girl, with pink strips in her raven hair.

BumbleBee walked over and looked at his best friend with sorrow "Rafael."

"I know Bee, you don't need to say anything." Raf interrupted

Giving his friend a warm smile he replied " I never had to. Somehow you always knew what I wanted to say."

The twins, Ultra Magnus and Chromia all looked at Agent Fowler and saluted. with Fowler saluting back. WheelJack and IronHide both said a sad goodbye to Ava. Who was crying as hard if not harder than Miko.

"I just got you back Hide, and I met you not that long ago Jackie and now you are all leaving." she cried

"Squirt." Ironhide said softly "You'll always be my sparkling." Not knowing what else to say.

"Don't cry kid, you know I can't take it when you cry." WheelJack said patting her back as she stood on Hide's hand.

Setting her down the team got ready to leave, Elita stood next to Optimus as she looked over at the team.

The kids joined the two adults as they waited for them to leave, probably forever.

"With Cybertron fully restored we can now start to rebuild." Optimus said as the others finished picking up their stuff. "thought we will miss the family we made on our home away from home."

"Will...Will we ever see you guys again?" Raf asked "Earth will be on the Con's radar now."

Bee stepped forward "Raf, if you any of you need us for any reason. No matter how small, we are only a space bridge away.

Agent fowler looked at the kids and straightened his jacket "Besides with you, Miko, Jack, and Ava assisting building E."

Miko looked excited "Wow, we are agents?" she asked

"Consultants." Nurse Darby jumped in with a frown, then smiled "Until you are of age to become an agent."

"I asume Building E does not have restrictions to old Autobot consultants."

The kids smiled a bit at the fact that one Autobot would choose to stay. While the other Autobots were surprised.

Arcee was the first to speak "Ratchet you of all bots..."

"Ep, Ep, EP, I know where I am needed the most." Ratchet said

With the space bridge open the bots looked back at the family they made. They all seemed hesitant to enter.

"I apologize for getting you all into our war." Elita said befor Optimus could.

With a small smile Ava replied "No sacrifice, no victory. We choice to help, no need to apologize."

Slowly the Autobots left Earth leaving Optimus to look back at the others. "Goodbye old friend." Optimus said to Ratchet and looked at the others giving them a warm smile. Before he left he looked back and was saluted from the four children. With that he left the planet, giving them another warm, friendly smile.

With the majority bots gone only one question was to be answered "So, what now?" She asked looking at the others.


End file.
